Griffins’ offense goes quiet in low-scoring affair against Cleveland

CLEVELAND, OH — While the Grand Rapids Griffins didn’t give up much to their opponent on Sunday night, they didn’t produce a whole lot either to finish up their extended weekend.

In their first meeting with the Cleveland Monsters, the Griffins were not able to generate a ton of offense, leading to a 3-1 defeat, the team’s third loss in a row.

The Griffins fell behind the Columbus Blue Jackets’ American Hockey League affiliate early on, as Roman Ahcan beat Grand Rapids goaltender Sebastian Cossa for his sixth goal of the season just over four minutes into the contest.

However, a great play by two of the Detroit Red Wings’ prospects leveled the score just past the halfway mark of the frame. First-year Griffin Jakub Rychlovsky made a nice pass to Amadeus Lombardi, who made a great play to get around Monster netminder Zach Sawchenko to pot his fifth of the campaign.

Elmer Soderblom was awarded the secondary assist on the goal, his first of the season.

Unfortunately for GR, they wouldn’t be able to keep the game tied for long, as Ahcan was able to sneak a shot over Cossa with just over a minute to play in the first.

Grand Rapids had a couple of chances in the middle stanza, putting nine shots on goal. Yet, they could not find the equalizer. Things didn’t get any better for the Griffins in the final 20 minutes. While they attempted to create some scoring chances, they were only to put three shots on goal in the third period. Owen Sillinger put the icing on the cake with an empty-net goal in the final minute to give the Monsters the win.

The Monsters have beaten Grand Rapids in seven of the last nine meetings.

The Griffins were outshot 26-18 by Cleveland on Sunday, including 12-3 in the final frame. In 10 games this season, Grand Rapids has ended up on the wrong end of the shot counter every time. Cossa did all he could to give his team a chance, making 23 stops in his third regulation defeat of the campaign. Sawchenko, who had to be sharp when called upon, registered just his second win of the young season, turning away 17 shots.

Each team had a pair of chances on the power play, with both the Griffins and the Monsters coming up empty on the man advantage.

Grand Rapids (6-3-1-0) still holds the second-best winning percentage in the Central Division (.650), trailing the Milwaukee Admirals. Cleveland (4-3-0-1) is fifth among teams in the North with a .563 winning percentage.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Griffins go back on the road for a couple of matchups against divisional rivals, beginning on Thursday against the Iowa Wild in their annual School Day Game.

The Wild (3- 6-1-0) struggled in the early going, losing each of their first seven games of the season, finally snapping their losing skid last Tuesday against the Chicago Wolves. They have now won each of their last three after sweeping the San Jose Barracuda this weekend.

Thursday morning will mark the first of eight matchups between Iowa and Grand Rapids this year. The Griffins took seven of the eight meetings in 2023-24.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE (Home games in BOLD)

• Thursday, Nov. 7 @ Iowa Wild (11:30 a.m. ET)
• Friday, Nov. 8 @ Rockford IceHogs (8 p.m. ET)
• Wednesday, Nov. 13 vs. Rockford IceHogs (11 a.m. ET)
• Friday, Nov. 15 vs. Chicago Wolves (7 p.m. ET)
• Saturday, Nov. 16 @ Milwaukee Admirals (7 p.m. ET)

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