Jonatan Berggren scored from a sharp angle 4:14 into overtime Saturday night as the Grand Rapids Griffins rallied from a 2-0 deficit to edge Rockford 3-2.
Berggren took a pass from Carter Mazur and scored on Rockford goalie Jaxson Stauber, who was 3-0 against Grand Rapids during the regular season. Stauber had won 13 games in a row.
“It was great to play like everyone stopped for a while there,” Berggren said on the Griffins postgame broadcast. “But the ref didn’t didn’t blow the whistle and then Mazur looked up and made a good pass to me and I had a good speed on this right to get it on (goal) so it went in.”
Radim Simel had the second assist.
The win gave Grand Rapids a 1-0 lead on their best 3-out-of-5 series. Game 2 is Wednesday in Grand Rapids.
The IceHogs scored in each of the first two periods. Michal Teply scored early in the first period and Zach Sanford scored near the midpoint of the second to give Rockford a 2-0 lead.
Dominik Shine got the Griffins on the board early in the period. Amadeus Lombardi tied it late in the period.
Both teams finished the regular season on a roll. Rockford won 20 of its last 25 regular-season games while the Griffins had a 19-game unbeaten streak in the second half of the season.
Saturday’s game marked the start of only the second playoff series between the team. Grand Rapids won their previous series 4-1 in the 2015 West Division semifinals.
The Griffins outshot the IceHogs in every period and finished with a 37-23 advantage. Sebastian Cossa made 20 saves to earn his first AHL postseason win.
More must-reads: