Big, Bad Wolves

This Week’s Games
Chicago Wolves (7-0-0-0) at GRIFFINS // Fri., Feb. 26 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves // Sun., Feb. 28 // 4 p.m. // Triphahn Center Ice Arena
Watch: WXSP-TV and Facebook Watch (both Friday only), AHLTV
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM
Season Series: 0-2-0-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Home, 0-2-0-0 Road. Third and fourth of 10 meetings overall, first of five in Grand Rapids, third of five in Chicago
All-Time Series: 87-66-2-6-3 Overall, 42-29-2-4-2 Home, 45-37-0-2-1 Road
NHL Affiliations: Carolina Hurricanes (primary), Nashville Predators (2020-21)
Noteworthy: The Wolves and Tucson Roadrunners (4-0-0-0) stand as the AHL's only perfect teams, heading into Tucson's game on Wednesday night at Colorado.

Last Week’s Results

Thurs., Feb. 18 // GRIFFINS 3 at Rockford IceHogs 1 // 2-2-0-0 (4 pts., 4th Central Division) Recap | Highlights
Sat., Feb. 20 // Cleveland Monsters 1 at GRIFFINS 2 OT // 3-2-0-0 (6 pts., T2nd) Recap | Highlights

Griffins vs. Wolves

The Wolves have used both a prolific offense and a shut-down defense to amass their 7-0 start. Their 4.86 scoring average is by far the highest in the AHL – 0.86 more than the next three best teams – while Chicago and Grand Rapids are among four teams deadlocked for third in the league by allowing only 2.00 goals per game…After allowing seven goals (including an empty-netter) over their two season-opening losses at Chicago, the Griffins have held each opponent to just a single goal during their three-game winning streak…The Wolves are averaging 3.5 goals per game against the Griffins and 5.4 against the rest of the league, a figure inflated by their 10-2 win over Iowa on Saturday…Chicago hasn’t had to travel far to collect its seven wins, as five came at the Triphahn Center Ice Arena while two were earned just 59 miles up the road at Rockford’s BMO Harris Bank Center…Taro Hirose, Givani Smith and Dylan McIlrath were all up with the Red Wings when the Griffins dropped the pair of games at Chicago.

Late Bloomers

Seven of Grand Rapids’ 11 goals this season have been scored after the second period, including six during the third period and Dennis Cholowski’s overtime tally on Saturday…Each of the Griffins’ three straight wins has come after the game was tied through 40 minutes of play.

No Soup For You

The 13 shots surrendered by the Griffins in last Thursday’s 3-1 win at Rockford were one more than the franchise record for fewest allowed. Two decades ago they held visiting Hershey (Oct. 13, 2001) and host Houston (March 31, 2000) to just a dozen shots each in shutout victories...Kevin Boyle was the beneficiary of that stingy defense, earning the victory to improve to 1-1 with a 2.04 GAA and a 0.902 this season…The Griffins have yet to allow 30 shots in a game, but they’ve matched or eclipsed that number themselves on three occasions…Grand Rapids allows 24.2 shots per game, third-fewest on the circuit.

Taking Advantage

Both of the Griffins’ goals in Saturday’s home-opening win against Cleveland came on the power play, giving them at least one such goal in each of the season’s first five games and putting them 6-for-23 (26.1%) on the season, tying for sixth in the league.

It’s Good to Nag

After allowing just one goal in each of his consecutive wins over Cleveland, Pat Nagle owns a 2-1 record and ranks among the AHL’s leaders with a 1.68 GAA (8th) and a 0.937 save percentage (11th). If you exclude goalies who haven’t yet played two games, Nagle’s rankings rise to fourth and seventh, respectively.

High-Flying Griffins

With an assist on Dennis Cholowski’s game-winner last Saturday, Riley Barber pushed his team-high scoring streak to five games and point total to six (2-4—6)…Cholowski has consecutive two-point outings (1-3—4) and has registered points in three of the last four games (2-3—5)…Kyle Criscuolo (2-2—4) and Michael Rasmussen (2-2—4) each have points in four of five games thus far, with Rasmussen owning a three-game point streak (2-1—3)…After feeding Cholowski for that overtime goal, Taro Hirose has three assists in two games since being reassigned from Detroit’s taxi squad.

We Miss You, Bob!
On Feb. 8, the beloved 21-year Voice of the Griffins, Bob Kaser, underwent successful heart surgery at the Meijer Heart Center in Grand Rapids to repair several blocked arteries. Released from the hospital on Feb. 14 and now recuperating at home, he is expected to miss the better part of this 30-game shortened season. Everyone in Griffins Nation, the Griffins organization, the AHL, and the Michigan hockey community wishes Bob all the best in his recovery and a quick return to health. We can’t wait until he is back in the booth.

Fruitful Februarys
February has historically been very kind to the Griffins, as they’ve posted a winning record for the month 10 years running, going a combined 68-32-5-6 (0.662) from 2011 to 2020. They are 3-2-0-0 so far this February, with two games remaining.

Milestones Achieved and Within Reach
Riley Barber logged his 300th pro game on Saturday. Other milestones on the horizon include:

Griffins – Three wins for 1,000 regular season victories in franchise history
Kyle Criscuolo – Two goals from 50 for his AHL/pro career
Turner Elson — Five games played for 200 as a Griffin
Brian Lashoff – Four assists for 100 as a pro
Gustav Lindstrom - Four points for 50 as a pro
Dylan McIlrath – One game played for 400 in the AHL, five games played for 200 as a Griffin
Dominik Shine – Six points from 50 for his Griffins/AHL/pro career, seven games played for 200 as a Griffin
Dominic Turgeon – Six points from 100 for his Griffins/AHL/pro career

Griffins in General

Grand Rapids is in the franchise’s 25th overall season of play, 20th as a member of the American Hockey League and 19th as the primary affiliate of the 11-time Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings…Grand Rapids is 997-685-27-61-116 (0.583) in the regular season since 1996-97 to go along with 17 playoff appearances, seven division titles and two Calder Cups (2017, 2013)…Grand Rapids has qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs a franchise-record seven consecutive times — and was in position to do so for an eighth straight season when the COVID shutdown hit in last March — and advanced to at least the second round in five of those postseasons.

Photo courtesy of the Chicago Wolves