Brad Winchester scored three times and added two more assists as the Hamilton Bulldogs prevailed over the streaking Grand Rapids Griffins 6-5 in a shootout at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.
The shootout was in its the eighth round when Corey Locke scored for the Bulldogs and the Griffins Jiri Hudler failed on his attempt.
Winchester helped the Bulldogs take advantage of the power play as all three of his goals and one of his two assists came while the Bulldogs had a man-advantage. Winchester now has eight goals and three assists for 11 points on the season.
The Griffins Jon Insana forced the overtime period when he scored to tie the game with just 2:57 left in the third period. Tomas Kopecky had a pair of goals for the Griffins in the losing effort.
With the win the Bulldogs (8-13-0-1, 17 pts.) snapped a six game losing streak of their own, while also putting an end to the Griffins (15-3-0-2, 32 pts.) six game winning streak.
The Bulldogs are tied for sixth place with the Cleveland Barons in the North Division, while the Griffins still lead that division by five points over second place Manitoba.
Elsewhere on Saturday:
Manitoba goaltender Sebastien Centomo stopped all 15 shots he faced to lead the Moose to a 3-0 victory over the Cleveland Barons, and earn his first shutout and win of the season… Frank Doyle stopped all 34 shots he faced, earning his first shutout of the season in a 2-0 Albany win over the Amerks. Ilkka Pikkarainen scored both Albany goals… Milwaukee’s Brian Finley registered his second shutout of the season, stopping all 28 San Antonio shots on his way to a 4-0 Admirals win over the Rampage… The Iowa Stars’ Mike Smith shutout the Peoria Rivermen, making 29 saves in the 2-0 Stars win… Adam Munro was perfect stopping all 30 Hershey Bear shots on his was to blanking the Bears. The Norfolk Admirals took the game by a score of 1-0. Quintin Laing had the lone goal for the Admirals… Lee Falardeau scored the game winner 2:41 into the third period as the Wolf Pack beat the Providence Bruins 2-1… Brandon Prust scored twice for the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights to lead them to a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Wolves. The win is Omaha’s fifth in a row… Lowell’s Chad Larose had five points (3g, 2a) in a wild 7-6 victory for the Lock Monsters over the Atlantic Division leading Portland Pirates. The Pirates now have just a two point lead in the Atlantic over the Manchester Monarchs… Konstantin Pushkarev and Yanick Lehoux each scored twice to help the Monarchs beat the Springfield Falcons by a score of 6-3 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield… The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins continue their stellar play as they beat the Binghamton Senators by a score of 4-1. Dany Sabourin made 42 saves on 43 shots to pick up the win. The Pens have now won 13 consecutive road games… Philadelphia defenseman Freddy Meyer scored in overtime to lift the Phantoms over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers by a score of 4-3… Syracuse rookie Geoff Platt continues to stay hot, scoring a goal in a 3-2 Crunch victory over the Toronto Marlies. Platt has scored at least a point in four of his last five games, and is tied for the most goals amongst all AHL rookies with 14 along with Manchester’s Jeff Tambellini
