Dominik Shine scored four goals, including a natural hat trick bridging the first and third periods, and the Grand Rapids Griffins beat the Texas Stars 6-2 on Wednesday night at Van Andel Arena. The AHL-leading Griffins improved to 9-1-1-1 and have now earned points in eight straight games, while Texas fell to 2-7-1-1 in the finale of a road trip.
Texas scored first when Matt Sgarbossa finished a play from Tommy Bertucci and Ethan Rickwood at 3:36 of the first period. Grand Rapids answered with three goals in less than four minutes. Shine converted on the power play at 10:28, with assists from Ondrej Becher and Red Wings prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka, and Nikolai Dower Nilsson added another power-play goal 45 seconds later, set up by Jacob Bryson and Dylan James. Shine made it 3-1 at 14:15 off feeds from William Lagesson and Antti Kannok Leipert, a goal that chased Stars starter Arno Tiefensee after five saves on eight shots.
Brendan Gleason pulled Texas within 3-2 just 36 seconds into the second period. The score held until 8:10 of the third, when Shine completed the hat trick with assists from Lagesson and Red Wings first-round pick Carter Bear. Shine added his fourth of the night at 17:48, with Becher assisting, and James closed the scoring at 19:01 from Kyle Draper and Nick Moyle.
Shine entered the night with 101 goals as a Griffin, two shy of second place on the franchise’s all-time list, according to the team’s pregame notes. He leaves it with 105 career goals in Grand Rapids and nine this season.
With Michal Postava recalled to Detroit earlier in the day, Red Wings prospect Trey Augustine went the distance and made 24 saves on 26 shots. Brandon Halverson stopped 16 of 19 in relief for Texas. Shots were nearly even, 27-26 in Grand Rapids’ favor. The Griffins went 2-for-5 on the power play, extending their run of games with a power-play goal to eight, and killed all five Texas power plays. The game was a physical one, with fights in each of the first two periods and a game misconduct to Grand Rapids’ Butler at 4:15 of the second. Attendance was 5,147.
The win opened an eight-game season series with Texas and a stretch of three games in four nights. Grand Rapids hosts the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday and visits Rockford on Saturday.
Mitten Hockey’s preview of the game: Griffins Game Preview: vs. Stars (Nov. 4). Earlier Wednesday: Red Wings recall Michal Postava from Grand Rapids under emergency conditions.
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