Griffins finish sweep with OT win

Photo: Randy Cleves

Kyle Criscuolo scored his first career playoff goal at 10:03 of overtime to send Grand Rapids into the second round with a 3-2 win over Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

The Griffins completed a three-game sweep of the Admirals, setting up a meeting with Chicago in the Central Division Finals beginning May 3.

Criscuolo redirected a point shot by defenseman Dan Renouf past Marek Mazanec for his first goal of the series. Criscuolo had 17-24-41 in 76 games during his rookie season with Grand Rapids in 2016-17.

Matt Lorito forced overtime for the Griffins with a goal at 16:22 of the third period, his second of the series. Tomas Nosek also scored for Grand Rapids, and Jared Coreau made 41 saves on the night.

Trevor Murphy scored both goals for Milwaukee. Mazanec finished with 37 stops but saw his career playoff record fall to 0-7.

Milwaukee, which was also swept out of the opening round in 2014 and 2016, has now lost 11 consecutive postseason games, one shy of the AHL record.

Central Division Semifinals – Series “F” (best-of-5)
C2-Grand Rapids Griffins vs. C3-Milwaukee Admirals
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 21 – GRAND RAPIDS 4, Milwaukee 3 (OT)
Game 2 – Sun., Apr. 23 – GRAND RAPIDS 5, Milwaukee 2
Game 3 – Wed., Apr. 26 – Grand Rapids 3, MILWAUKEE 2 (OT)