DES MOINES, Iowa – The Grand Rapids Griffins scored twice on the power play and added a penalty shot goal to defeat the Iowa Wild by a 4-1 score at Wells Fargo Arena on Friday night. Louis Boudon scored Iowa’s lone goal.
Grand Rapids scored each of its first period goals in the closing minutes of the opening frame. Tim Gettinger put the Griffins up 1-0 at 17:58 when he finished a centering feed from Austin Czarnik past Jesper Wallstedt (19 saves) on the power play.
Antti Tuomisto doubled the lead for Grand Rapids with 39 seconds to play in the first when his shot from the right circle snuck through a screen in front of Wallstedt.
The Griffins entered the first intermission with a 2-0 advantage and a 9-6 lead in shots.
Boudon pulled the Wild back within a goal 11:41 into the second period. After Casey Dornbach forced a turnover in the Grand Rapids zone, Boudon stepped into the slot and snapped a shot under the blocker of Sebastian Cossa (28 saves).
Iowa trailed 2-1 through 40 minutes. Grand Rapids maintained an 18-17 shot advantage after two periods.
Joel L’Esperance provided Grand Rapids with an insurance goal 10:40 into the third when he poked the rebound of a Marco Kasper one-timer across the goal line on the power play.
Dominik Shine capped the scoring for the Griffins when he converted on a penalty shot at 14:11 of the third.
Iowa outshot Grand Rapids 29-23. The Wild went 0-for-4 on the power play while the Griffins were 2-for-2 on the man advantage.
The Wild and Griffins square off again on Saturday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena. The first 1,500 fans will receive an Adam Beckman bobblehead presented by Capital Orthopaedics.
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