GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—The Rockford IceHogs completed a weekend sweep of the Grand Rapids Griffins with a 3-2 win in overtime on Saturday night at Van Andel Arena. Anders Bjork netted the overtime winner for the IceHogs’ third straight win.
Tied 2-2 heading into the extra frame, David Gust carried the puck into the right circle and angled a centering pass where Bjork blasted the game-winning goal past the glove of Grand Rapids’ goaltender Michael Hutchinson (1:33). Gust has now contributed to all three IceHogs’ overtime wins this season by scoring two himself and assisting on Saturday night’s.
As the first period was 21 seconds away from ending scoreless, the IceHogs snagged a late 1-0 lead. Michal Teply directed the loose puck from Brett Seney’s shot back to the high slot, and Austin Strand buried a wrister for his second goal of the season and his first in a Rockford sweater (19:39).
The Griffins evened the score 1-1 halfway through the second stanza with the lone goal of the frame. Collecting the rebound from Jared McIsaac’s slap shot in the left point, Dominik Shine found the back of the net backdoor on Rockford netminder Drew Commesso (10:51).
The IceHogs appeared to take the lead late in the final period, but Logan Nijhoff’s goal was waved off when Brandon Baddock was charged with a roughing minor on Hutchinson and sent the Griffins on the man advantage (9:41).
While the Griffins were on their third power-play attempt of the contest, Tim Gettinger was waiting in the low slot and got his stick on Austin Czarnik’s pass from the left circle, tapping the puck into the open net and giving Grand Rapids a 2-1 lead (11:02).
After Rockford’s third power-play opportunity expired, Jalen Luypen hustled up the ice to corral the puck along the left boards and fired a cross-ice pass to Seney who blasted a shot to beat Hutchinson on the blocker side and tied the close game 2-2 (15:17).
Commesso earned his seventh win of the season after stopping 22 of Grand Rapids’ 24 shots. Hutchinson marked 25 saves on 28 Rockford shots and was tagged with the loss.
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