Dries Overtime Winner Lifts Griffins Past Wolves in 3-2 Comeback

Sheldon Dries picked up the puck in the slot 3:08 into overtime, walked in, and snapped it past the Chicago netminder to cap a three-goal comeback and give the Grand Rapids Griffins a 3-2 win over the Wolves at Van Andel Arena on Saturday night.

The win pushed Grand Rapids to 46-13-4-1 through 64 games and 97 points, a mark that ranks among the best starts in AHL history. It also required the Griffins to dig out of a two-goal hole they had no business escaping, which, at this point in the season, may be the most telling sign of their playoff readiness.

Chicago built the cushion in a hurry. Domenick Fensore collected the puck on the near side and fired a sharp-angle wrister over Sebastian Cossa's glove with 7:21 remaining in the first period. Just 49 seconds later, Joel Nystrom ripped a slapper from the right circle to push the Wolves ahead 2-0 before the period was two-thirds done.

The turning point came 7:10 into the third. Eduards Tralmaks, working from the high slot, rocketed one past the Chicago goaltender to cut the deficit to 2-1. It was Tralmaks' 22nd goal of the season, and it fundamentally shifted the tone of the game.

The tying goal required a tactical gamble that paid off. With 2:28 left in regulation and the Griffins on the power play, Grand Rapids pulled Cossa for a two-man advantage. Erik Gustafsson fed the puck to Axel Sandin-Pellikka at the blue line, and Sandin-Pellikka fired it home to level it at 2-2. Three unanswered goals, all in the third period, against a team that had controlled the first 40 minutes.

Then came Dries, alone in the slot, finishing what Grand Rapids had spent the third period building toward.

Dries finished with a goal and an assist, his third consecutive multi-point performance. He has developed into exactly the kind of high-leverage forward that contending teams require in April: capable of generating offense in tight situations and converting when the game is on the line. Gustafsson finished with two assists, while Wojciech Stachowiak added his fourth point across two games and Eddie Genborg earned his first AHL point.

Cossa's 22-save night, which moved him to 25-7-4 on the season, deserves as much credit as any offensive contributor. He kept the deficit at two through a first period when Chicago had momentum, and his composure through the second period gave Grand Rapids the stability needed to mount a third-period charge.

The bigger picture reinforces the trend. Grand Rapids had already clinched the Central Division title two days earlier, but Saturday's result against a Chicago team that threw two quick goals on the board underscores a defining characteristic of this group: a third-period scoring margin of 85-42 on the season. Teams that outscore opponents by 43 goals in the final frame do not come from behind by accident. For the Griffins, the late-game comeback is not an outlier. It is a pattern, and one Chicago could not contain.