Husso leaves the game early, the Red Wings contender’s first professional goal brings Griffins to victory over Springfield

SPRINGFIELD, MA – They say you never forget your first goal, and the first goal from one of the Detroit Red Wings’ best talents in professional hockey was a big one.

It was a night full of firsts and a few oddities as the Grand Rapids Griffins took on the Springfield Thunderbirds on Friday night, opening a run of three games in as many days with a 2-1 win.

Nate Danielson got on the scoresheet late in the second period with his first goal as a Griffin, tying the game 1-0.

On that goal, veteran Austin Watson recorded his team-leading fourth assist of the season, while Jakub Rychlovsky scored his first AHL point with the second assist.

Grand Rapids wasted no time taking the lead in the third period when Alex Doucet set up Gabriel Seger for his first AHL goal.

It was Doucet’s first assist in the AHL, while Cross Hanas scored his first goal point of the year.

That would be enough as Sebastian Cossa kept the door closed the rest of the way.

Cossa wasn’t the one who started the game. That went to veteran Ville Husso, making his second start since being assigned to the Griffins from Detroit. However, a few minutes into the second half, the Finnish goalkeeper left the game for an unknown reason. Husso leaving a game unhappy is nothing new. Last year he had to leave the ice during warm-ups and was sidelined with an undisclosed injury.

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Cossa stopped all 21 shots in relief and secured his third win of the season. Husso was outscored by Springfield’s Matthew Peca early in the contest, stopping 10 of the 11 shots he faced.

GR was defeated by the Thunderbirds 32-23, with T-Birds goaltender Colton Ellis suffering his third loss of the season after making 21 saves.

Danielson’s goal was the Griffins’ only power play goal of the night, their first since the first game of the season. Grand Rapids went 1-5 with the man advantage, while Springfield went 0-3.

The Griffins (4-1-0-0) have won three straight games and are one of two teams in the Central Division, along with the Milwaukee Admirals, to record four wins. The Thunderbirds (2-4-0-0) have now lost four of their last five games.

The look forward

The Griffins continue their four-game road trip to the East with a back-to-back game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms starting Saturday.

The Philadelphia Flyers’ most important partner is off to a good start. The Phantoms have lost two of their first four games and fell to the Hartford Wolf Pack, a team GR will play next week. in overtime on Friday evening.

This will be the first time the Griffins will face the Phantoms since the 2008-09 season, when they were based in Philadelphia. Grand Rapids leads the series 8-5-1-0.