HAMILTON, – Ville Leino had a hand in each of Grand Rapids’ goals and the Griffins shrugged off a tremendous Hamilton start to finish off the Bulldogs.
The game could not have started any better for the Bulldogs in front of their home crowd when Greg Stewart scored just nine seconds into the contest. Hamilton won the opening face-off and immediately put the puck into the Griffins zone. J.T. Wyman fed the puck to Stewart who tipped it in by Griffins goaltender Jimmy Howard. It would be the only shot to elude Howard on the evening.
Hamilton set the stage for the own demise when both Chad Anderson and Yannick Lehoux were assessed roughing penalties at the same time without taking a Griffins player into the penalty box with them. Darren Haydar made the Bulldogs pay for their transgressions while on the five-on-three power play advantage when he corralled a rebound and put the puck past Hamilton netminder Marc Denis. The play was started when Leino fed Brian Lashoff who in turn rang a shot off the post. The puck then went to Haydar who made no mistakes with it.
Grand Rapids took the lead for good when Justin Abdelkader fired the puck through a maze of players on a shot that had no business going into the net. Cory Emmerton continued the scoring when he picked up a dancing puck, settled it down while moving around some defenders and then beat Denis with a hard shot. Leino completed the game with an empty net goal as he finished the contest with that goal and assists on all the other Griffins goals.
The series win marked the Griffins first since the 2006 season. They will now go on to face the Manitoba Moose who finished first in the North Division and the AHL with 107 points. Game 1 of the best-of-seven series is set to be played Friday, May 1.
Contact tom.schettinoe@prohockeynewws.com
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