Big middle period carries Griffins to series clinching win against Wolves

Three unanswered second period goals turned a 1-1 draw into a 4-1 Grand Rapids Griffins lead and paced the Griffs to a 5-2 win to capture the American Hockey League’s Central Division crown in five games against the host Chicago Wolves at Allstate Arena on Saturday (May 13, 2013).

Teams were even after a period as rookie Evgeny Svechnikov put the Griffs up 2:08 into the contest but Andrew Agozino responded for the Wolves about four minutes later.

After a slim 8-7 margin on the shot clock in the opening frame, the Griffins turned up the heat doubling the Wolves 16-8 in the middle period and that paid off with second period goals from Tyler Bertuzzi, Tomas Nosek and Kyle Criscuolo.

Bertuzzi added a second 30 seconds into the final frame to open a 5-1 lead.

Samuel Blais pulled one back 3:35 into the third for the Wolves, but they could get no closer in this one, Jared Coreau picking up the win in goal with a 22-save effort in goal for the Griffins.

Ville Husso stopped 20 of 24 before being replaced at the start of the third by Jordan Binnington who stopped eight of nine down the stretch.

With its win against the division’s top seeded Wolves, the Griffins move on to the Western Conference championship series where it will play the San Jose Barracudas. The Cudas also wrapped up its Pacific Division final on the same night with a 2-0 shutout against the San Diego Gulls to wrap up a 4-1 series win.