The Grand Rapids Griffins continued their early-season surge on Wednesday afternoon with a thrilling 3–2 overtime victory against the Toronto Marlies and returning Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll.
Grand Rapids came out strong and struck first thanks to the red-hot Sheldon Dries. The veteran forward capitalized on a breakout pass from Austin Watson, breaking free through the neutral zone before cutting across the crease and lifting a backhand shot over Woll’s glove for a 1–0 lead.
Toronto nearly tied the game early in the second period on a power play. A mishandled shot from the slot deflected toward the Griffins’ net, but defenseman Justin Holl alertly swept the loose puck off the goal line before William Wallinder cleared it safely out of the zone.
Moments later, the Marlies found a fortunate bounce when Ryan Tverberg’s low shot deflected off Holl’s skate and slipped past goaltender Carter Gylander to even the score. Toronto then grabbed the lead shorthanded as Jacob Quillan broke behind the defense and faked a move across the crease before tucking the puck past a sprawling Gylander for a 2–1 advantage.
Grand Rapids responded later in the period. Amadeus Lombardi, still searching for his first goal of the season but producing more than an assist per game, carried the puck into the slot and fired a shot that Woll stopped. The rebound popped out to Austin Watson, who buried it to tie the game at 2–2.
Neither team could find the go-ahead goal in the third period, sending the contest to overtime. In the extra frame, Lombardi made the most of his next opportunity. After a Marlies turnover left him alone on a breakaway, the 22-year-old forward skated in and slipped a low shot through Woll’s pads for the game-winner and his first goal of the season.
The victory extended the Griffins’ season-opening point streak to ten games, improving to 9-0-0-1 on the campaign. Grand Rapids will look to complete the sweep when they host Toronto again on Friday. The Marlies are expected to start a different goaltender, which could provide another favorable matchup for the red-hot Griffins. Fans can listen live on WOOD 106.9 FM and 1300 AM or stream the game on AHLTV through FloHockey.
Chicago Blackhawks (8-5-3, 19 pts) vs New Jersey Devils (11-4-1, 23 pts)
8:30 pm CT – United Center
TV: TNT (Faust/Botterill/Armstrong)
Radio: WGN 720 AM (Wiedeman/Konroyd)
The Chicago Blackhawks return to home ice tonight as they host the New Jersey Devils, with a national audience watching. The Devils are a team that has had high expectations the past couple of years, but they finally look to be figuring it out. They have a balanced attack with a good mix of dynamic, two-way, and power forwards. Even with some key injuries to their defensive corps, they come into the United Center with the most points in the Eastern Conference.
They’re certainly a really good team and dangerous,” head coach Jeff Blashill said of the Devils. “They’re missing some guys on the back end, but they’re a really good team. But I felt Detroit was a measuring stick; I felt every night in this league is a measuring stick. We have to keep coming out tonight, playing the very best we can. We’ll wake up tomorrow, we’ll regroup, try to learn and get better, and move to the next game. That’s just the way we’ve treated every game right now. It might sound like coach speak, but it’s not. It’s the reality of where we’re at.”
The Devils have been a different team on the road this season. They are 7-0-1 in their home rink, but only 4-4-0 in away games. The Blackhawks are 3-2-1 at the United Center and play eight of their next nine games at home. This is a good opportunity for them to go from a team just off to an unexpected start to a legit contender for a postseason spot.
It feels like the Blackhawks can’t get their lineup to full strength. When one player returns, another goes out. As we learned yesterday, Frank Nazar and Jason Dickinson will not play today. Dickinson was a full participant in today’s morning skate, so he looks like he could be good to go for Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Those absences were expected. Andre Burakovsky was an unexpected no-show this morning. Blashill said he will be a game-time decision. Landon Slaggert is being recalled from the Rockford IceHogs and could play tonight if Burakovsky can’t go.
Tonight will be Ryan Donato’s 500th career NHL game. That is quite the accomplishment for a player who bounced around for much of his career, looking to carve out a role in the league. He has been able to cement a spot with the Blackhawks the past two seasons and earned a four-year extension over the summer.
“I think just like the rest of the team, he’s getting more comfortable with the systems, and that allows him to play a little bit freer,” Blashill said about Donato. “He’s a guy who can score on one shot, and you can see it every time he shoots the puck; he has a chance to score. So, he’s done a good job for us.
Donato could be due for a big night. He only had three assists on the six-game road trip and has played well at the United Center. Four of his six goals have come at home, and he’s scored in three of the last four games at the Madhouse on Madison. In 10 career games against the Devils, he has three goals and seven points. He has three goals on six shots against tonight’s starting goaltender, Jake Allen.
The last time the Blackhawks were on a national TNT broadcast, they walloped the St. Louis Blues 8-3. That was the night the national narrative began to shift for this team. Bedard and Nazar had a postgame interview together on the bench, and the rest of the hockey world took notice of how different this team is.
Bedard will be front and center for the national audience tonight. He is riding an eight-game point streak, which has seen him score seven goals and 18 points. He has seven points in his last two outings. He has yet to record a point in four career games against the Devils, so look for him to change that as early as possible tonight.
11/12 vs NJD
3/29 @ NJD
G-Connor Bedard/Tyler Bertuzzi (9)
A-Bedard (16)
P-Bedard (25)
PPG-Tyler Bertuzzi (5)
GWG-Ryan Donato (2)
G-Jack Hughes (10)
A-Jesper Bratt (11)
P-J. Hughes (18)
PPG-Dawson Mercer (3)
GWG-J. Hughes/Bratt/Brenden Dillon (2)
GF/G-3.31 (9th)
GA/G-2.50 (3th)
PP%-25.5 (7th)
PK%-83.9 (8th)
SOG/G-25.2 (28th)
SA/G-31.5 (30th)
FO%
-47.3 (26th)
PIM/G-11:26 (31st)
GF/G-3.31 (9th)
GA/G-2.94 (13th)
PP%-25.6 (6th)
PK%-85.7 (5th)
SOG/G-28.9 (12th)
SA/G-28.3 (17th)
FO%-48.2 (22nd)
PIM/G
-7:00 (3rd)
Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi-Connor Bedard-Andre Burakovsky*
Teuvo Teravainen-Ryan Greene-Ilya Mikheyev
Oliver Moore-Ryan Donato-Colton Dach
Nick Foligno-Sam Lafferty
*game-time decision
Defensemen
Alex Vlasic-Sam Rinzel
Wyatt Kaiser-Artyom Levshunov
Scratched
F-Landon Slaggert
Injured
G-Laurent Brossoit (hip), F-Jason Dickinson (upper body), F-Frank Nazar (lower body)
Forwards
Stefan Noesen-Jack Hughes-Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier-Nico Hischier-Dawson Mercer
Defensemen
Jonas Seigenthaler-Simon Nemec
Brenden Dillon-Luke Hughes
Dennis Cholowski-Colon White
Scratched
F-Juho Lammikko
Injured
F-Connor Brown (upper body), F-Evgenii Dadonov (hand), D-Dougie Hamilton (lower body), D-Jonathan Kovacevic (knee), D-Brett Pesce (upper body), F-Marc McLaughlin (undisclosed)
Spencer Knight (6-3-2, 2.33 GAA, .926 SV%, 1 SO) vs Jacob Markstrom (4-2-1, 3.82 GAA, .872, 0 SO)