Anthony Mantha scored twice during a crazy second period to lead the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 4-1 win over the Milwaukee Admirals and a 3-0 victory in their first-round series at Van Andel Arena on Tuesday night.
The Griffins’ three-game sweep of the division champion Admirals — Grand Rapids’ eighth series win in the last four postseasons — sets up a second-round meeting with the Lake Erie Monsters.
Grand Rapids trailed 1-0 entering the second period before scoring two goals in 1:34 — one by Brian Lashoff and one by Mantha — that both had to be confirmed by official video review after going through the Milwaukee net.
Mantha’s second goal made it 3-1 late in the second, and Colin Campbell put the game and the series away with a breakaway goal at 12:05 of the third.
Eric Tangradi had a pair of assists for the Griffins in Game 3, and Tom McCollum (3-0) made 28 saves to finish the series with a .968 save percentage.
Adam Payerl scored the only Milwaukee goal and Marek Mazanec stopped 22 of 26 shots in his first start of the series.
The Admirals’ loss was their 13th in their last 14 postseason contests, and seventh loss in a row on the road in the postseason.
Central Division Semifinals – Series “E” (best-of-5)
C1-Milwaukee Admirals vs. C4-Grand Rapids Griffins
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 22 – Grand Rapids 3, MILWAUKEE 1
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 23 – Grand Rapids 2, MILWAUKEE 1
Game 3 – Tue., Apr. 26 – GRAND RAPIDS 4, Milwaukee 1
How about not 1, but 2 goals through the net in the 2nd?!#MILvsGR #GoGRG pic.twitter.com/rsgtVstoNc
— GrandRapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) April 27, 2016
