Grand Rapids defeated the Rockford Ice Hogs 4-2 to win the best of five series 3-1.
GRG goals are below.
Grand Rapids defeated the Rockford Ice Hogs 4-2 to win the best of five series 3-1.
GRG goals are below.
Mazur
Czarnik
Berggren
Kasper ENG
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Dan Watson post game.
ROCKFORD, Ill. -- Jonatan Berggren's third game-winning goal of the playoffs helped the Grand Rapids Griffins close out their best-of-five series against the Rockford IceHogs with a 4-2 victory in Game 4 on Sunday at the BMO Center.
With their 3-1 series triumph, the Griffins have advanced to the Central Division Finals for the first time since their 2017 Calder Cup championship run and become the first AHL team this season to move on to the division finals round. They will face either division champ Milwaukee or fourth-seeded Texas in a best-of-five series whose start date and schedule is yet to be determined. Texas currently leads Milwaukee 2-0 in their division semifinal series, with the Admirals returning to Panther Arena on Wednesday for the first of as many as three straight must-win home games against the Stars.
Austin Czarnik pocketed a goal for the third straight game while Sebastian Cossa turned aside 21 shots to become the first Griffins rookie to lead the team to a playoff series win since Petr Mrazek in 2013.
continued
Who is this Berggren guy? The Wings should sign him.
Hah! Good one!
from Tyler Kuehl of Mlive,
Head coach Dan Watson said everyone on the team is excited, putting in the hard work to get to this point.
A lot of effort, Watson said after the win. A lot of compete out of our guys, really proud of that. Thats something they should be proud of.
Watson said it was not easy to get through the rival IceHogs--a team Grand Rapids faced 12 times during the regular season.
It was a hard series...a lot of close games, a lot of emotion to it. I think our guys are a little bit relieved, but with that, theyre proud of what just happened....
I wanted to come in and help this organization win, Mazur said. To help people in the locker room that have been here forever like Dominik Shine, Tyler Spezia, what they have done for the organization and to get that first playoff win for them is pretty special....
Grand Rapids played a really controlling game for most of the night, at one point outshooting Rockford, 22-11. Watson says the effort in front of their goaltender is from the work of five-man units.
We talk about playing tight, Watson said. Playing connected, not giving too much of the middle of the ice, making sure were hard around our net-front, and allow our goalies to see pucks. I thought our guys did a really good job protecting what Rockford was looking for the most part....
We have the team in that locker room to win games, Mazur said. Especially with how Cossas playing right now, hes been spectacular there and we really trust him. He can really take us far in these playoffs.
more
Go Griffs!
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