GRAND RAPIDS — When it comes to producing goals and assists during his time in the spotlight, Grand Rapids Griffins forward Jonathan Berggren has proven there's magic to his game.
“He's a guy who wants to live in the moment,” Griffins coach Dan Watson said. “He's done that for us many times.”
On Friday, Berggren did it again, scoring at the 8:12 mark of overtime to lead the Griffins to a 4-3 victory over the Rockford IceHogs in Game 3 of the American Hockey League's best-of-5 playoff series. lead. The Griffins, who lead the series 2-1, could eliminate the IceHogs if the series moves to Game 4 Sunday (5 p.m. ET) in Rockford.
“You see him skating hard to the net. It was a great play to take (Carter Mazur's) puck to the outside and bring it back to him,” Watson said. “He was able to drive the net, win the race to the net and drive it in. He's special offensively.”
With the OT tally, Berggren became the first Griffins player to score in two overtime periods in one playoff series. Berggren also scored an overtime goal in Game 1 in Rockford to give Grand Rapids the victory.
“Yeah, we were waiting for him to score,” joked Grand Rapids defenseman Simon Edvinsson. “That's what he does and what he's really good at. Of course he helps us a lot.”
Former Red Wings star Stacy Roast is the only Grand Rapids player to score two goals in the postseason in one season. Another former Detroit player, Matt Ellis, is the only Griffins player to score two goals in playoff overtime in his career.
blown lead
The win took on added meaning as the Griffins allowed two goals in the final minutes of the game, tying Rockford at 3-3. This came after the Griffins played poorly in Game 2. The Griffins were weak as a team and there was a possibility that the game would go into overtime. Instead, they came out confident in OT. They owned the puck.
“Dan told us, 'This is playoff hockey.' You have to think about short-term memory, and that's what we did,” Edvinson said. “The fact that we were able to play and win was the result of a good team effort.”
The game drew a crowd of 8,825, the team's largest playoff crowd since Game 6 of the 2017 Calder Cup Final. The game drew a sold-out crowd of 10,834. This was also the team's largest crowd for a playoff opening game since his first season in 1997. It was a night of jubilation at Van Andel Arena. During a stoppage shortly after the Griffins had built a two-goal lead in the third period, a fan threw an octopus onto the ice.
“It was unreal. It's pretty hot. There were a lot of people, a lot of screaming, it was really fun and I loved every minute of it,” said Grand Rapids goalie, who made 27 saves in the win. keeper Sebastian Cossa said.
Kasper scored the first goal.
Austin Czarnik, who has spent most of his time with the Red Wings this season, scored the go-ahead goal 57 seconds into the third period. At 9:35 of the third period, Elmer Soderblom scored a goal to give Grand Rapids a 3-1 lead. He had missed the first two games of the series due to illness.
The Griffins appeared to be heading for a regulation win until Zach Sanford and Jackson Cates scored for Rockford at 16:22 and 17:21 of the third period.
Marco Kasper beat Comesso with a high shot 24 seconds into the second period, giving the Griffins a 1-0 lead. He was assisted by Dominic Shine and Simon Edvinsson. The Griffins were playing well enough to take an even bigger lead in the second period. At one point, the Griffins held a 22-9 lead in shots on goal. Conmesso stopped three breakaways in the first 40 minutes.
The IceHogs fought back and tied the score with less than a minute left in the second period on a goal by Rem Pitlick. In the previous 150 seconds, Cossa made three big stops from close quarters. Another IceHogs shot hit the post.
The Griffins were much stronger in Game 3 than they were in Game 2. He outscored Rockford 19-6 in the early going, but was repeatedly stopped by Rockford goaltender Comesso.
