The Grand Rapids Griffins beat the Rockford IceHogs 5-1 on Sunday night at Van Andel Arena, finishing a home-and-home weekend sweep behind a hat trick from John Leonard. Grand Rapids improved to 5-1-1-0 with 11 points through seven games, while Rockford fell to 1-5-0-0. A crowd of 4,869 watched.
After a scoreless first period, Leonard opened the scoring at 12:04 of the second at even strength, with Red Wings prospect Carter Bear picking up an assist. Leonard then struck on the power play 39 seconds into the third period, set up by Dominik Shine, to make it 2-0.
Gavin Hayes got Rockford on the board during 4-on-4 play at 2:47, but William Lagesson answered just 11 seconds later, with Jacob Bryson and Leonard assisting. Wilmer Skoog scored his first goal of the season on the power play at 9:36, with Noah Dower Nilsson among the helpers, and Leonard completed the hat trick on a 5-on-3 at 19:22.
Leonard finished with three goals and an assist for his second hat trick in a Griffins sweater, and he had six points over the two games against Rockford after scoring twice in Saturday’s 4-2 win at the BMO Center. Bryson had two assists for the second straight game.
In goal, Red Wings prospect Michal Postava stopped 27 of 28 shots to improve to 4-0-0. He is 5-1 with a 1.85 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage in six career games against Rockford. Drew Commesso made 21 saves on 26 shots for the IceHogs. Rockford outshot Grand Rapids 28-26.
Special teams made the difference. The Griffins went 3-for-8 on the power play, helped by a third-period boarding major and game misconduct to Rockford’s Brett Seney, while the penalty kill went 6-for-6.
Under head coach Dan Watson, Grand Rapids is a combined 18-2-1-0 through the first seven games of each of the last three seasons.
Next: The Griffins host the Manitoba Moose on Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. at Van Andel Arena.
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Game highlights from the Rockford IceHogs:
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