After a game two loss, Jonatan Berggren again played overtime heroics for the Grand Rapids Griffins in round one of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Friday night’s game-three win was the team’s largest home crowd since 2017, now the Griffins need one more win to advance to the next round in this best-of-five series.
Marco Kasper opened the scoring with his first-career Calder Cup Playoff goal:
Elmer Soderblom was back in the lineup and the scoresheet as well, picking up the team’s third goal to make it 3-1:
Rockford would claw back late in the game to make it 3-3 and send it to overtime for the second time this series. Berggren’s game-winning goal came about eight minutes into extra time — it started with Carter Mazur forcing a turnover in the neutral zone, which sent the Griffins on a rush towards Rockford’s net. Berggren would pick up a rebound and put in net, becoming the only Griffin and just the 13th player in AHL history to score two overtime goals in a single playoff series:
Sebastian Cossa made 27 saves and earned his second-career AHL playoff win.
Full Highlights
Notes from the Griffins
– This marks the fifth series all time in which the Griffins have logged a pair of overtime wins. The last was the 2017 Central Division Semifinals against Milwaukee, which began their march to the Calder Cup.
– Stacy Roest (2003) is the only other Griffin besides Berggren to net two overtime goals in a playoff year, and Matt Ellis (2006 and 2007) joins them with two career playoff OT goals.
– Grand Rapids returns to Rockford with an all-time record of 11-6 on the road when its opponent faces elimination
Three Stars
1. GR Berggren (overtime-winner, assist); 2. GR Kasper (goal); 3. RFD Pitlick (goal, assist)
Game four is set for tomorrow in Rockford with puck drop slated for 5 PM ET.
