Jiri Hudler scored two goals and added two assists as Grand Rapids opened its 2005-06 season with a 6-3 win over Milwaukee at a sold-out Van Andel Arena.
Kent McDonell recorded four assists in his Griffins debut, and the home club went 4-for-6 on the power play.
Hudler scored his two goals in a seven-minute span of the first period as Grand Rapids turned an early deficit into a 2-1 lead. Donald MacLean, the AHL’s scoring champion in 2001-02, made it 3-1 early in the second period and sent Admirals goaltender Brian Finley to an early exit.
Valtteri Filppula, >Eric Manlow and Eric Himelfarb also scored for the Griffins, and Drew MacIntyre made 33 saves for the win.
Scottie Upshall had a pair of assists for Milwaukee.
Elsewhere on Saturday night:
Mike Glumac‘s goal 6:51 into the third period lifted Peoria to a 2-1 win over Manitoba, the Rivermen’s third straight one-goal win to start the season… Jarkko Immonen scored his second goal of the night with 52 seconds remaining as Hartford defeated Manchester, 4-3… Randall Gelech got the go-ahead goal with 9:09 left as San Antonio rallied from two goals down to defeat Houston, 3-2… Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 26 shots for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in a 2-1 win over Hershey… Evgeny Artyukhin and Ryan Craig each had a goal and an assist as part of a three-goal third period as Springfield stormed past Portland, 4-2… John Slaney scored with 2.2 seconds left in regulation and Mark Murphy scored 3:13 into overtime to give Philadelphia a 4-3 win over Binghamton in front of 11,584 fans at the defending Calder Cup champions’ home opener at the Wachovia Center… Michael Leighton made 30 saves in his Rochester debut as the Amerks downed Cleveland, 4-1… Brent Krahn stopped 36 shots and made Craig MacDonald‘s second-period goal stand up as Omaha blanked Iowa, 1-0… Nathan Barrett scored with 11 seconds left in regulation and James Wisniewski got the winner with 1:22 to go in overtime as Norfolk beat Bridgeport, 6-5… Martin Prusek made 27 saves and helped kill off 15 Albany power plays as Syracuse defeated the River Rats, 5-3.
