ROSEMONT, Ill. – Grand Rapids scored three goals in a 68-second span of the first period to set the tone for a 5-0 victory over the Chicago Wolves during School-Day Game action Tuesday at Allstate Arena. Grand Rapids goaltender Jared Coreau (24-10-2) stopped 28 shots to earn the shutout. Center Jeremy Welsh and defenseman Scooter Vaughan paced the Wolves (24-24-3-2) with 4 shots apiece.
“I thought we were all over them the first five minutes,” Anderson said. “If we could have gotten a goal early, things could have been different. But we had two missed reads on rushes, they got a bad bounce for their first goal and we’re having zero luck right now.”
Grand Rapids (30-20-1-1) opened the scoring 7:35 into the game on left wing Anthony Mantha’s goal. Eric Tangradi carried the puck along the right boards and backhanded a pass into blue-line traffic that ricocheted to Mantha ahead of the pack for a quick wrister.
The Griffins added two more goals 19 seconds apart as left wing Tyler Bertuzzi and right wing Mitch Callahan gave the visitors a 3-0 lead 8:43 into the game.
Martin Frk made it 4-0 at 7:02 of the second period with a high lob from the bottom of the left circle that deflected off goaltender Jordan Binnington’s glove. Frk added a power-play goal at 15:42 of the third to cap the scoring.
Binnington (11-11-3) posted 26 saves.
The Wolves head to Milwaukee at 7 p.m. Friday before hosting the Admirals on Saturday at Allstate Arena. Both games are part of the Amtrak Rivalry. To get the best deals on tickets, visit ChicagoWolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
GRIFFINS 5, WOLVES 0
Grand Rapids 3 1 1 — 5
Chicago 0 0 0 — 0
First Period—1, Grand Rapids, Mantha 17 (Tangradi, Lashoff), 7:35; 2, Grand Rapids, Bertuzzi 8 (Nosek, Russo), 8:24; 3, Grand Rapids, Callahan 15 (Chouinard, Zengerle), 8:43. Penalties—Blain, Chicago (hooking), 19:56.
Second Period—4, Grand Rapids, Frk 20 (Russo, Paetsch), 7:02. Penalties—Callahan, Grand Rapids (holding), 0:54; Caron, Chicago (checking to the head), 10:06; Nightingale, Chicago (fighting), 15:17; Tangradi, Grand Rapids (fighting), 15:17; Russo, Grand Rapids (high-sticking), 16:12.
Third Period—5, Grand Rapids, Frk 21 (Mantha, Miele), 15:42 pp. Penalties—Nightingale, Chicago (roughing), 2:55; Beach, Chicago (10-minute misconduct–unsportsmanlike conduct), 2:55; Russo, Grand Rapids (roughing, 10-minute misconduct–continuing altercation), 15:12; Bertuzzi, Grand Rapids (10-minute misconduct), 15:12; Beach, Chicago (match), 15:12.
Shots on goal—Grand Rapids 15-9-7—31; Chicago 7-11-10—28. Power plays—Grand Rapids 1-5; Chicago 0-2. Goalies—Grand Rapids, Coreau (28-28); Chicago, Binnington (26-31). Referees—Jamie Koharski and Jon McIsaac. Linesmen—Ryan Daisy and Al Stensland.
