GRAND RAPIDS, Mich – Monday night the Bulldogs and the Griffins skated into Grand Rapids for game three of their series. The Griffins were looking forward to putting one of the final nails in the Bulldogs’ 08-09 season coffin at the friendly confines of Van Andel Arena after taking games one and two of the series on the road in Hamilton, Ontario. But the Bulldogs, with their backs against the wall after losing twice at home, had begun to believe in the idea of skating with a “home-ice disadvantage.” For their season to have any real shot at continuing, they had to hope that this would disadvantage would continue in their favor as they played away from home in this North Division Semifinal game.
Claws extended, fighting for their playoff lives, the Bulldogs never trailed in this contest, leading by at least one goal, and sometimes two, for the majority of the game. Justin Abdelkader scored at 17:42 of the third period, making it a one-goal game for the last 2:18. Grand Rapids goalie Jimmy Howard was pulled with 1:20 remaining, but the Bulldog defense held, and the Griffins were unable to tie the game, even with the extra skater. Marc Denis stopped 27-of-31 Griffin shots in his winning effort. Jimmy Howard, winning the first two games of the series in net for the Griffins, allowed the 5 Hamilton goals while stopping 21 shots.
Abdelkader is the hottest third period skater of this series, with six points (4-2-6) in the final frames. The Bulldogs got a goal and an assist from both Yanick Lehoux and Ryan Russell, as did the Griffins from Ville Leino and rookie defenseman Brian Lashoff. Kyle Chipchura, Ben Maxwell, and Ryan White also scored for Hamilton, with White’s goal at 17:17 of the third being the game-winner. Darren McCarty also tallied a first period goal for Grand Rapids and Darren Hayder had 3 points, all coming as assists. Final score of this contest was 5-4.
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