The Grand Rapids Griffins lost 2-0 to the Milwaukee Admirals on Sunday, ending their Calder Cup Playoff run in the Central Division Finals.

The Grand Rapids Griffins' season is over.

After mounting a comeback from a 2-0 deficit in Friday's Game 4, the Griffins crossed to the other side of Lake Michigan to take on Milwaukee in a winner-take-all Game 5. But whatever luck laid on the shoreline of Michigan didn't cross over to Wisconsin. Grand Rapids' luck ran out in a 2-0 loss to the Admirals, ending the Griffins' season in the Central Division Final.

Grand Rapids played from behind for most of the game, giving up a shorthanded goal to Admirals forward Zach L’Heureux just 4:53 into the game. Special teams became a theme of the night, when 13 penalties were called during the game. The Griffins took six of their own, but they didn't let Milwaukee score a power play goal despite the abundance of opportunities. It was that shorthanded goal, though, that they really couldn't afford.

With a clunky rhythm to the game, Grand Rapids nonetheless generated its share of scoring chances, but it couldn't cash in. It took 23 shots in the first two periods looking for the tying goal, but all of them were stopped by Milwaukee goaltender Troy Grosenick, the backup filling in for Nashville's 2020 first-rounder, Yaroslav Askarov. In the end, Askarov stopped all 27 shots he faced.

In the meantime, the Admirals didn't wait around for the Griffins to find their equalizer. Three minutes into the third period, Milwaukee defenseman Ryan Ufko scored a 2-0 insurance goal, the second of his professional career and first of the playoffs. This put Grand Rapids in desperation the rest of the period, looking to cut the deficit in half.

The Griffins had been in this position before — in fact, they were in these exact same shoes before forward Jonatan Berggren's hat trick helped them come back for a rousing home win. But this time, the comeback didn't happen. Milwaukee shut the door the rest of the third period, ending with the game's 2-0 result.

This playoff run might be over, but it was a valuable learning experience for a number of high-performing Red Wings prospects. Detroit's 2022 first round pick, Marco Kasper, finished the playoffs with seven points in nine playoff games. Such scoring is an encouraging sign for the two-way center, who's likely to compete for a job with the Red Wings in training camp this fall. The same goes for 2021 third rounder Carter Mazur, who also showed his abilities on the big stage, scoring three goals and eight points and showing some snarl in battles and post-whistle extra curriculars.

For goaltender Sebastian Cossa, a 2021 first round pick, the playoffs were a bit of a struggle. He finished with a 5-4 record, 2.72 goals against average and .900 save percentage. However, he made a number of impressive saves on Sunday in a game he finished 25-for-27, including some through traffic and in tight when his team was on the penalty kill. 2021 first rounder and defenseman Simon Edvinsson played through an injury in the series, which held the defenseman out of the decisive game Sunday.

With the Red Wings' AHL affiliate eliminated, their ECHL affiliate, the Toledo Walleye, is still alive in the postseason. They're currently down 3-2 in the Western Conference Final series with the Kansas City Mavericks, which will resume Monday for Game 6.

For Grand Rapids, the end of the season marks the completion of its first playoff run since 2019, one that was the deepest it's gone since winning the Calder Cup in 2017. Given the way the Griffins competed and how close they were to moving on against a Milwaukee team that has made the conference finals two years in a row now, it's an encouraging sign for the future of the Red Wings' farm team.

Editor's Note: This article was updated to correct the specificity of Edvinsson's injury.

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