Jonatan Berggren slipped a shot past Jaxson Stauber with 4:14 gone in overtime to give the Grand Rapids Griffins a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Rockford in the opener of the teams’ Central Division semifinal series on Saturday night.
The Griffins host Game 2 of the best-of-five series on Wednesday night.
Rockford, which was 22-1-0-0 during the regular season when leading after two periods, took a 2-0 lead into the final frame of Game 1 before Dominik Shine got Grand Rapids on the board at the 3:05 mark and Amadeus Lombardi netted the tying goal with 4:25 to play.
Michal Teplý and Zach Sanford scored for the IceHogs, who were outshot 37-22 for the game.
Sebastian Cossa made 20 saves in his Calder Cup Playoff debut. Stauber stopped 34 shots but suffered his first loss on home ice since Feb. 3.
Photo: Brad Repplinger
(Grand Rapids leads series, 1-0)
Game 1 – Sat., Apr. 27 – Grand Rapids 3, ROCKFORD 2 (OT)
Game 2 – Wed., May 1 – Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 3 – Fri., May 3 – Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 4 – Sun., May 5 – Grand Rapids at Rockford, 5:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern