Grand Rapids held off a late Chicago surge and regained the series lead in the Central Division Finals with a 4-2 win at Van Andel Arena on Saturday night.
Up 2-1 in the best-of-seven, the Griffins host Game 4 on Monday.
Matthew Ford opened the Game 3 scoring just 5:09 into the contest, and Ben Street and Tyler Bertuzzi scored 30 seconds apart to chase starting goaltender Ville Husso (six saves) at the 10:30 mark of the first period.
The Wolves finally broke through on Chris Butler‘s goal 4:10 into the third period, and Mackenzie MacEachern cut the deficit to 3-2 with 13:38 still to play.
But Joe Hicketts restored the Griffins’ two-goal cushion 16 seconds later and Jared Coreau (27 saves) held Chicago off the board the rest of the way. Tomas Nosek and Martin Frk notched two assists each for Grand Rapids.
Jordan Binnington stopped 30 of 31 shots in a relief appearance for the Wolves.
Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
C1-Chicago Wolves vs. C2-Grand Rapids Griffins
Game 1 – Wed., May 3 – Grand Rapids 4, CHICAGO 1
Game 2 – Fri., May 5 – CHICAGO 7, Grand Rapids 3
Game 3 – Sat., May 6 – GRAND RAPIDS 4, Chicago 2
Game 4 – Mon., May 8 – Chicago at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Game 5 – Sat., May 13 – Grand Rapids at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 15 – Chicago at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*Game 7 – Tue., May 16 – Grand Rapids at Chicago, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
.@griffinshockey with the classic 2-on-1…#CHIvsGR pic.twitter.com/6vikgNMs3K
— AHL (@TheAHL) May 6, 2017
