Wolves, Griffins advance to AHL Central Division final

Chicago Wolves and Grand Rapids Griffins both punched their respective tickets to advance to the American Hockey League Central Division final on Wednesday (April 26).

The Griffins, top minor affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings finished off a three-game sweep of the Milwaukee Admirals with a 3-2 overtime win at Milwaukee’s UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. Meanwhile the Wolves, who trailed 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, finally clinched the win with a 3-2 win over its own against the Charlotte Checkers at the AllState Arena in Rosemont, IL.

Griffins 3 at Admirals 2 (ot)

Kyle Criscuolo fired the series winning goal 10:03 into the overtime period in Milwaukee as the Griffins brushed aside the top minor league affiliate of the Nashville Predators.

The goal gave the Griffs its first and only lead in the contest as the host side held margins of 1-0 and 2-1 but the score was even at the end of all three regulation periods.

Trevor Murphy fired both Admirals’ goals, opening the scoring at the 8:29 mark of the second period and restoring the lead again with 7:23 to play in the game.

Tomas Nosek evened the score at 1-1 with 90 seconds to play in the second and it was Matt Lorito with 3:38 to play, pulling the Griffins even again and forcing the extra period.

Jared Coreau was named as the game’s first star for obvious reasons. The Griffins’ goaltender won his third straight game with a 41 save effort. Marek Mazanec turned in a solid game as well, handling 35 shots in goal for the Admirals.

Checkers 2 at Wolves 3

Having trailed throughout the series, the Wolves went to work immediately in the finale, Kenny Agostino and Andrew Agozzino both scoring in the first five minutes to open a 2-0 lead that held into the second period.

Adam Musil added another for the Wolves, top minor league affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, 4:01 into the second and it was Connor Brickley finally finding a way past Wolves’ goaltender, Ville Husso a little over a minute later.

Phil Di Giuseppe pulled the Checkers, top minor league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes within a goal with 6:34 to play in the contest, but that was the final shot to beat Husso who was named as the game’s First Star with a 32-save effort.

Tom McCollum started in goal for the Checkers but was replaced by Michael Leighton after the second Wolves’ goal. Leighton handled 14 of 15 shots through the final 52:53 of the game.

The Wolves and Griffins will not move on to contest the Central Division final – the Wolves will have home ice advantage as the division’s top seed.