SAN ANTONIO – Daniel Larsson made 35 saves, while five different Griffins enjoyed multi-point outings Saturday night, leading Grand Rapids to a 5-1 win over the San Antonio Rampage at the AT&T Center. The Griffins stand in second place in the North Division with 86 points, five behind the first-place Manitoba Moose.
Along with Cory Emmerton (0-2—2), Darren Haydar (1-1—2), Evan McGrath (2-0—2) and Francis Pare (0-2—2), Justin Abdelkader (1-1—2) had a two-point night. He netted his 21st goal, placing him in a tie for second place among the Griffins all-time single season rookie goal scorers, just one shy of leader Kevyn Adams (1996-97), whose second-ranked 47 points were matched by Abdelkader for single season points by a rookie.
Grand Rapids (37-16-6-6) will return home Friday, March 13 to face the Peoria Rivermen at 7 p.m., in a game that was originally scheduled for Wednesday, March 11. The contest will kick off both a three-in-three weekend set at Van Andel Arena and a five-game home stand for the Griffins.
Abdelkader broke the scoreless tie at 12:47 of the opening period, breaking in alone on San Antonio goaltender Al Montoya, who denied the first attempt but failed to block the rebound. Haydar earned an assist on the goal to extend his team-high point steak to nine games.
The score remained 1-0 until 13:32 of the middle frame, when Steven Goertzen sent a shot from the top of the left circle past Larsson’s glove to get his Rampage on the board. The Griffins wasted no time regaining the lead, as McGrath fired in P.J. Atherton’s rebound from the hash marks just over a minute later at 14:51.
Haydar kicked off a three-goal third period for Grand Rapids and earned his second point of the night 3:07 into the third period. Pare soared up the left boards and fed a pass from the side of the goal to Haydar for a snap shot past Montoya into the right side of the cage.
Midway through the frame, Darren McCarty netted his first goal of the season as a Griffin, receiving the puck from Ville Leino and firing a shot from the left circle by the netminder at 9:18. McGrath capped off the scoring at 16:52 with his second goal of the contest, redirecting a pass from Emmerton up under the crossbar.
Montoya finished the night with 17 saves for San Antonio (25-34-2-4).
Three Stars: 1. GR McGrath (2 goals (GW)); 2. GR Abdelkader (1 goal, 1 assist); 3. SA Goertzen (1 goal)
