GRAND RAPIDS — It took until the last two minutes of the third period, but the Grand Rapids Griffins extended their point streak to 19 games with a 3-1 win against the Milwaukee Admirals Friday night at Van Andel Arena.
With the game tied up 1-1 heading into the final two minutes, the Griffins took advantage of a power play when Andreas Athanasiou fired in a slap shot.
Athanasiou said the team took a different approach on the break out and he took the puck up the left side of the ice, saw an open lane and let one rip toward Admiral goalie Magnus Hellberg.
The puck hit Hellberg and slipped underneath his pads.
“I thought it got stuck under there,” Athanasiou said. “I saw it slip through and trickle, trickle. Time was going so slow.
“It went across the line and I was pretty happy.”
The goal is Athanasiou’s 14th of the season.
Roughly a minute later, forward Kevin Porter added the final Griffins’ tally with an empty-netter as he skated across the blue line.
With a six-day break, the Griffins came out slow, something head coach Jeff Blashill was expecting.
“You lose a little bit of your edge,” Blashill said. “There’s not a real good way to combat that.”
Blashill said he could have pushed the team hard during the break, but opted to go easy.
“That hurts you in the long run,” he said.
Milwaukee took advantage of the Griffins lack of game-readiness 4:43 into the game.
Admiral forward Joe Pendenza was able to slip one by Griffins goalie Tom McCollum.
McCollum played stellar the rest of the night, finishing with 28 saves. The game was McCollums 187th game in Grand Rapids, allowing him to pass Detroit Red Wing Jimmy Howard for second all-time in games played by a goalie.
Joey MacDonald is first on the list with 210.
“It’s definitely an honor,” McCollum said. “This is a great organization with a lot of fantastic goalies to come through here.”
Athanasiou ignited the Griffins scoring in the first period as well when he slid a pass across the goal to a ready-to-fire Martin Frk who fired the puck past Hellberg 18:22 into the first period. The goal was Frk’s fourth on the season.
The second period was scoreless, but aside from three penalties, where Blashill said his team began to show how they’ve come to 19 straight games with a point.
During the streak, Grand Rapids is 15-0-3-1 and overtook first place in the Midwest Division, which it now leads by seven points over the Rockford IceHogs. The Griffins head to Cleveland to take on the Lake Erie Monsters Saturday before an afternoon game Sunday against Adirondack at Van Andel.
McCollum will get a rest Saturday, as Jared Coreau will get the start.
The team isn’t dwelling on keeping the streak alive, McCollum said.
“We’re just focusing on going out there and making the right play every shift,” he said. “I think it just give us the confidence to know that we can go out there, make the right play and come back.”