Photo: Brad Repplinger
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.
(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
