GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Grand Rapids Griffins finished their regular season on a high note, as Carter Mazur's overtime-winner pushed them past the Milwaukee Admirals in a 2-1 overtime win at Van Andel Arena on Sunday.
The Griffins’ overtime win secured a second-place finish in the Central Division for Grand Rapids along with home-ice advantage in its upcoming Calder Cup Playoffs series against the third-place IceHogs. Game 1 of the best-of-five division semifinals will take place at the BMO Center on Saturday, April 27 before the series shifts to Van Andel Arena for Games 2 and 3 on Wednesday, May 1 and Friday, May 3. For the complete series schedule and ticket information, click here [clk.griffinshockey.com].
Sebastian Cossa holds the third-most wins by a rookie goaltender with 22, which is the most since Petr Mrazek's 23 wins in 2012-13. Mazur's tally tied him for 14th place for goals by a rookie with 17.
Following a scoreless first period, a scramble ensued on the doorstep after a backhanded shot reached the net, which allowed Alex Campbell to net a power-play goal for the Admirals at 10:57 in the middle frame.
The Griffins tallied a man-advantage goal of their own in the third period, as Joel L'Esperance rocketed the puck past Troy Grosenick from the left circle to tie the game with 12:16 remaining.
With the game still deadlocked at one, Grand Rapids and Milwaukee entered overtime. Less than a minute into the frame, Cossa denied the Admirals on a 2-on-1 breakaway at 47 seconds. Following the save, Austin Czarnik sent a bullet to the net, which was deflected behind Grosenick by Mazur with 2:50 remaining to seal a 2-1 overtime victory against Milwaukee.
Notes
- Grand Rapids finished its eight-game series against Milwaukee with a 4-3-1-0 record.
- The Griffins finished with a regular season attendance of 275,078 over 36 games at Van Andel Arena, for an average of 7,641 fans, which, is the team’s largest since the 2018-19 campaign. Grand Rapids ranked seventh out of 32 AHL teams in attendance this season. Excluding the 2020-21 season when capacity was severely restricted due to COVID, the Griffins have averaged more than 7,000 fans for 15 consecutive seasons.
The Griffins will play their first playoff game of the season on Sat., April 27 at Rockford 8 p.m.
