Brandsegg-Nygård's overtime winner keeps Grand Rapids alive against Chicago
Brandsegg-Nygård scored 9:22 into overtime to keep Grand Rapids alive, slicing Chicago’s series lead to 2-1 and forcing the Central Division final deeper.
Michael Brandsegg-Nygård turned Game 3 into a survival night for Grand Rapids, scoring 9:22 into overtime to lift the Griffins to a 4-3 win over Chicago and keep their season alive. The 20-year-old rookie, Detroit’s first-round pick at No. 15 in the 2024 NHL Draft, delivered his fourth goal of the playoffs and his third game-winner, a finish that changed the tone of the Central Division finals in a single shift.
Grand Rapids had to survive plenty before Brandsegg-Nygård ended it. The Griffins jumped to a 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old for the second straight matchup, then watched Chicago claw back again and again before Tyler Angle tied it and sent the game to overtime. John Leonard scored his first postseason goal after leading Grand Rapids with 33 regular-season goals in 47 games, and Carter Mazur kept rolling with his fifth goal in the last five games. Felix Unger Sörum answered for Chicago with a goal and an assist, extending his own scoring streak to four games.
The numbers showed how much Grand Rapids dictated the night. The Griffins outshot the Wolves 46-20, while Michal Postava stopped 17 shots for Grand Rapids and Cayden Primeau made 42 saves for Chicago in defeat. Sheldon Dries won the defensive-zone faceoff that set up the overtime sequence, Erik Gustafsson turned that possession into a long outlet pass, and Brandsegg-Nygård finished the chance that followed. It was the kind of rapid, decisive play that exposed how narrow the margin was despite the lopsided shot count.
Chicago still entered Game 4 with control of the best-of-five series, but the result made the next game matter in a different way. The Wolves had already won Game 2 in overtime on May 16 to take a 2-0 lead, and Grand Rapids’ comeback in Game 3 forced the matchup to continue rather than end in Rosemont. Game 4 was set for Thursday at Allstate Arena, with Game 5 scheduled for Saturday in Grand Rapids if needed.
The broader playoff picture added even more weight to the result. Road teams had gone 10-4 in overtime during the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, and this one fit that pattern of late-series volatility. For Grand Rapids, the overtime winner did more than extend the season: it turned a potential sweep into a fight, and it left the Central Division finals hanging on one more game.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
