It was a very out-of-the ordinary night for the Grand Rapids Griffins Wednesday, as they were shutout 4-0 by the Lake Erie Monsters. The Monsters held their hosts at bay for most of the night and capitalized off defensive mistakes by the Griffins.
Lake Erie beat down Grand Rapids Wednesday night in a 4-0 shutout performance. Photo / Grand Rapids Griffins
Grand Rapids (29-14-2-2) couldn’t get anything going offensively and was held to just 19 shots on the night by Lake Erie (20-21-0-4).
Making his first appearance with the Griffins since December 7 was goaltender Petr Mrazek, who made multiple saves early in the first period before being beat 10:37 into the game. After winning a faceoff, Monsters’ Andrew Agozzino got the puck back to the left point, where Gabriel Beaupre fired a shot past the screened Mrazek.
Agozzino set up another goal to put the Monsters up 2-0 as he forced a turnover and sent the puck back to the point. Duncan Siemens took the opportunity to earn his first professional goal off the pass 7:23 into the second.
At the 13:30 mark in the second, Garrett Meurs nailed a rebound to extend the Monsters lead to 3-0. They held a 21-11 shot advantage heading into the final frame.
Midway through the final period, Agozzino earned his third assist of the night as he centered the puck from his knees during Lake Erie’s fourth power play chance of the night. This allowed Colin Smith to redirect the puck for the final goal of the night. Despite some late attacking by the Griffins, they failed to break the shutout.
The Monsters hold the 11th place slot on the Western Conference and earned their third win in 11 outings in their shutout performance. Lake Erie goaltender Sami Aittokallio earned his second shutout of the season Wednesday night.
The 19 shots for the Griffins are the fewest they have scored under head coach Jeff Blashill, tying the lowest in two seasons since a 4-3 loss to Oklahoma City last year. The loss also marks the first time the Griffins have lost three straight games in regulation at Van Andel Arena under Blashill.
Mrazek suffered his first loss as a Griffin since Oct. 25. His ten-game winning streak was snapped two games shy of tying Jimmy Howard’s 12-game streak from the 2005-06 season.
Despite the loss, Grand Rapids still holds a six-point lead over the Chicago Wolves in the Midwest Division and are just two points down from Western Conference leaders Abbotsford. Grand Rapids will battle the Toronto Marlies Friday night. The Marlies have won all three meetings this season.
