Berggren the hero again as Griffins regain series lead

Photo: Nicolas Carrillo

Jonatan Berggren scored his second overtime goal of the series to give Grand Rapids a 4-3 win over Rockford on Friday night at Van Andel Arena.

With the Griffins holding a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series, the IceHogs will host Game 4 on Sunday.

Carter Mazur forced a turnover in the neutral zone and seconds later hit the post off a centering feed from Berggren. But Berggren followed the play and tucked home the rebound to become the 13th player in AHL history to score two sudden-death overtime goals in the same playoff series.

Grand Rapids appeared headed towards victory in regulation before Rockford scored twice in the final 3:48 to force OT. It was a reversal of Game 1, when the Griffins erased a 2-0 deficit in the third period.

Marco Kasper, Austin Czarnik and Elmer Söderblom scored for Grand Rapids, and Sebastian Cossa made 27 saves in the win.

Rem Pitlick and Zach Sanford led the IceHogs with a goal and an assist apiece, while Drew Commesso finished with 38 stops.

(Grand Rapids leads series, 2-1)
Game 1 – Sat., Apr. 27 – Grand Rapids 3, ROCKFORD 2 (OT)
Game 2 – Wed., May 1 – Rockford 5, GRAND RAPIDS 1
Game 3 – Fri., May 3 – GRAND RAPIDS 4, Rockford 3 (OT)
Game 4 – Sun., May 5 – Grand Rapids at Rockford, 5:00
*Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern