The Griffins' Landon Ferraro collides with the Barons' Ben Eager Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids Mich. The Grand Rapids Griffins beat the Oklahoma City Barons 5-4 to win the Western Conference finals. The Griffins will play the Syracuse Crunch in the Calder Cup finals starting Saturday. (Sally Finneran | MLive.com)

GRAND RAPIDS. MI – Everything that happened against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Tuesday turned around Wednesday as they reached the AHL's Calder Cup Finals with a 5-4 victory against Oklahoma City in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals.

A two-goal lead blown in the third period on Tuesday? The Griffins overcame a one-goal margin in the final period on Wednesday.

A missed penalty shot by Tomas Jurco in the third period Tuesday? Wednesday's game-winning goal came from Jurco in the third period.

It culminated with goaltender Petr Mrazek withstanding a flurry of last-second shots, a final buzzer, 4,110 fans sounding like 10,000 and a mad dash of teammates to embrace Mrazek and each other in celebration of the Griffins’ first appearance in the championship series.

The Griffins will open the series at Syracuse with the first two games Saturday and Sunday.

RELATED: Take a look back at how we followed the game live

“It’s a great next step for the team,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “It was obviously a grueling, hard series with two even swings both ways. We feel very fortunate and excited to compete for the Calder Cup championship.”

WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

No. 3 Grand Rapids vs. No. 5 Oklahoma City

Game 1 – Grand Rapids 2, Oklahoma City 1

Game 2 – Oklahoma City 4, Grand Rapids 2

Game 3 – Oklahoma City 4, Grand Rapids 1

Game 4 – Grand Rapids 4, Oklahoma City 0

Game 5 – Grand Rapids 3, Oklahoma City 0

Game 6 – Oklahoma City 4, Griffins 3

Game 7 – Grand Rapids 5, Barons 4

CALDER CUP FINALS

Saturday – Grand Rapids at Syracuse, 7 p.m.

Sunday – Grand Rapids at Syracuse, 6 p.m.

Wednesday, June 12 – Syracuse at Grand Rapids, 7 p.m.

Friday, June 14 – Syracuse at Grand Rapids, 7 p.m.

*Saturday, June 15 – Syracuse at Grand Rapids, 7 p.m.

* Tuesday, June 18 – Grand Rapids at Syracuse, 7 p.m.

* Thursday, June 20 – Grand Rapids at Syracuse, 7 p.m.

* - if necessary

Nothing was bigger than Jurco’s goal. The 20-year-old rookie broke free at center ice, moved left and right and put it past goalie Yann Danis to break a 4-4 tie with 6:12 remaining.

“I saw their D didn’t have any speed so I tried to skate around him, and Frankie Pare was on my right side and I tried to fake a pass to him and ended up in the middle of the ice, and between the D, and I shot low blocker,” Jurco said of his seventh goal of the postseason. “I was just happy it went in.”

Perfect spot for a guy known for his stick-handling skills.

“Maybe I got lucky …,” he said before he got a shaving cream pie in the face from teammate Triston Grant.

A nice moment for someone who missed a penalty shot in the third period the night before.

“I know he felt real bad about that he didn’t score (on the penalty shot the night before),” Blashill said. “He takes things hard. He wants to be a winner and so it was nice to get that retribution. It was great for him.”

The Griffins trailed 4-3 after the Barons’ Taylor Fedun scored 1:21 into third.

From there, the team turned around the nightmare from Game 6.

With 6:32 left, Jan Mursak tied it with his second goal of the game. Jeff Hoggan took a shot from the left side that rolled right to Mursak, who had an open net.

Then came Jurco’s goal.

It was quite a turnaround for the Griffins after a stunning late loss to the Barons the previous night.

“I think we just had to forget about last night,” said Gustav Nyquist, who scored in the second period for his first goal since his return from Detroit. “We know how to be successful. We showed that down in Oklahoma when we took two in a row, so we said we’ll just do what we’ve been doing and said, ‘Why change that?’”

NOTES

Petr Mrazek picked up his 10 postseason win this season, surpassing the Griffins record held by Jimmy Howard … The series was tied at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 … Although the Barons faced elimination three times this postseason, the franchise had never played in a Game 7 before … The Griffins will bus to Syracuse on Thursday morning. They are scheduled to practice Friday, time still to be determined.

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AHL game-7, Grand Rapids beats OKC for Calder Cup trip

Oklahoma City at Grand Rapids

Griffins 5, Barons 4

Oklahoma City 2 1 1 - 4

Grand Rapids 2 1 2 - 5

1st Period-1, Grand Rapids, Mursak 7 (Almquist, Glendening), 0:54. 2, Oklahoma City, VandeVelde 2 (Eager, Tyrvainen), 13:07. 3, Oklahoma City, Hartikainen 7 (Rajala), 13:32. 4, Grand Rapids, Tatar 11 (Andersson, Billins), 15:55 (PP). Penalties-Stretch Okc (hooking), 15:05; Glendening Gr (tripping), 16:18.

2nd Period-5, Grand Rapids, Nyquist 1 (Billins, Skinner), 9:47 (PP). 6, Oklahoma City, Tyrvainen 3 (Eager, Davidson), 17:02. Penalties-Sheahan Gr (tripping), 5:45; served by Cornet Okc (bench minor - too many men), 9:35; Hotham Okc (delay of game), 12:51; Pitlick Okc (interference), 17:53.

3rd Period-7, Oklahoma City, Fedun 3 (Arcobello, Cheechoo), 1:21. 8, Grand Rapids, Mursak 8 (Paetsch, Glendening), 6:32. 9, Grand Rapids, Jurco 7 13:48. Penalties-Glendening Gr (delay of game - faceoff violation), 19:47.

Shots on Goal-Oklahoma City 14-9-16-39. Grand Rapids 12-11-10-33.

Power Play Opportunities-Oklahoma City 0 / 3; Grand Rapids 2 / 4.

Goalies-Oklahoma City, Danis 10-7-0 (33 shots-28 saves). Grand Rapids, Mrazek 11-7-0 (39 shots-35 saves).

A-4,110

Referees-Jean Hebert (43), Darcy Burchell (42).

Linesmen-Jared Hoffmeyer (91), Jim Scarpace (75).