Griffins Game #68 * Road Game #33 * AHL Game #1,037

Season Series: 1-1-1-0 Home Series: 0-1-1-0 Road Series: 1-0-0-0
All-Time Series: 33-32-4-2 All-Time Home Series: 19-15-2-1 All-Time Road Series: 14-17-2-1

Griffins at Marlies
Fourth of four meetings overall, second of two at Coca-Cola Coliseum…Yesterday’s contest was the Griffins first trip to Toronto since April 2, 2016...The 2021-22 campaign is the first time since the 2015-16 season that Toronto and Grand Rapids played more than two games...The Griffins and Marlies had met for 11 consecutive seasons from 2005-16 before taking a three-year hiatus (2016-19)…Yesterday’s win was Grand Rapids’ first victory against the Marlies since on Nov. 8, 2019...The Griffins are 2-6-1-0 against Toronto since the 2015-16 season and have been outscored 39-25...The Marlies are 16-14-2-1 at home this year and hold a 5-5-0-0 record in the past 10 games...Grand Rapids is 14-15-2-1 on the road this season and are 3-6-1-0 in its past 10 outings...Toronto ranks near the middle of the pack in power play percentage at 19.5% (T16th) while its penalty kill places 21st at 79.4%...Calvin Pickard appeared in 33 regular season games with the Marlies in 2017-18, posting a 21-9-2 record to go along with a 2.31 GAA, a 0.918 save percentage and one shutout. Pickard helped Toronto win the 2018 Calder Cup after playing in three postseason games and showing a 1-0-0 record, a 1.00 GAA and a 0.956 save mark…Ben Simon served as an assistant coach with the Marlies during the 2014-15 season (40-27-9-0 record).

Last Time Out
Riley Barber registered his first hat trick with the Griffins, as Grand Rapids took down the Toronto Marlies 7-5 on Saturday at the Coca-Cola Coliseum. After trailing 4-1 early in the second period, the Griffins rattled off six unanswered goals to help claim the victory. This was Barber’s third-ever hat trick and the first for a Griffin since Matt Puempel lit the lamp three times on Jan. 5, 2020 at San Antonio. Barber also extended his point streak to nine games (8-4—12). Rookie Jonatan Berggren joined Barber with three points (0-3—3), which added to his team-high 49 points (16-33—49) this campaign. Drew Worrad bagged his first point as a pro during a two-assist night (0-2—2). In his first Griffins game since March 9 due to recall, Taro Hirose amassed two helpers. The Griffins went 4-for-6 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

Roster Shake Up
- April 4, 2022—F Kyle Criscuolo reassigned by Detroit
- April 5, 2022—F Samuel Dove-McFalls signed to an ATO; F Kyle Criscuolo recalled by Detroit
- April 7, 2022—F Kyle Criscuolo reassigned by Detroit
- April 8, 2022—F Taro Hirose reassigned by Detroit

Welcome to the Barber Shop
Riley Barber has been on a tear as of late, with points in nine straight games (8-4—12), including his third-ever hat trick on April 9 at Toronto. Since being reassigned by Detroit on March 2, Barber has notched 20 points (10-10—20) in 18 games, including five multi-point outings. The Pittsburgh, Pa., native ranks fourth on the roster with 39 points (18-21—39) in 41 games. Last season, Barber paced the Griffins with 34 points (20-14—34) in 32 contests and finished second in the league with 20 goals. Through 73 games with the Griffins, the 28-year-old veteran has 73 points (38-35—73) and 44 penalty minutes.

This Date in Griffins History
2002: After breaking the modern AHL record for save percentage (0.9301) and posting the second-lowest GAA (1.83) in league history, Martin Prusek is named the winner of the Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL's outstanding goaltender for the 2001-02 season.

No Time to Waste
The Griffins currently sit in seventh place in the Central Division standings with a 29-30-6-2 (0.493) mark and only nine games remaining. The top five teams from the division will qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs, with the top three receiving a first-round bye. The Griffins’ magic number over Texas, who sits in the final playoff spot, is 21 points. The Griffins have the sixth-toughest remaining schedule in the division with a remaining opponent win percentage of 0.583 while Texas has the toughest at 0.614. Grand Rapids has appeared in the last seven Calder Cup Playoffs, dating back to the 2012-13 season when it lifted the cup for the first time.

Shine Bright
Dominik Shine recorded a career-high seven-game point streak (7-3—10) from March 16-27 and has tallied nine goals in his last 11 outings. Before this run, the Detroit, native registered just one tally and four assists in his previous 28 games. Shine scored in four straight games from March 22-27, which set a new career-high goal streak. The 28-year-old has set career-best numbers this season in goals (15), assists (14), points (29), penalty minutes (123) and shots (106) this campaign with nine games remaining.

Race to the Top
Jonatan Berggren has cracked the Griffins’ top-10 rookie single-season scoring list, as he currently places sixth with 49 points (16-33—49) in 61 games, which leads the team this season. Berggren has logged two or more points in four of his last nine games, with two goals and nine helpers during the run. The Uppsala, Sweden, native is tied for fifth among rookies with his 49 points, while his 33 assists rank fourth. Berggren places fourth among rookies with five game-winning goals. Berggren is on pace for 56 points, which would place third in Griffins’ rookie single-season scoring history.

Traffic Jam
The Griffins have won two games in their last seven contests away from West Michigan, having been outscored 32-22. However, Grand Rapids has secured five out of eight points in its past four outings away from home. Grand Rapids went on a season-high five-game road trip from March 19-27 and finished with a 1-3-1-0 mark. The Griffins are 14-15-2-1 this season away from West Michigan while they are 15-15-4-1 at home. Grand Rapids will play six of its remaining nine games on foreign ice.

Rarified Air
Brian Lashoff’s 571 games played for the Griffins ranks first among active AHL players who have spent their entire AHL career with the same club and fourth in league history among one-team players. Of the players ahead of him on that list, the most recent – and, coincidentally, the record-holder – last played during the 1970-71 season (Bill Needham of the Cleveland Barons, 981 games played). Lashoff overtook Paul Larivee (Providence Reds, 1952-62) for the No. 4 spot on April 6 against Cleveland and is now 37 games behind No. 3 Howie Yanosik (Hershey Bears, 1957-67). Lashoff is still 84 games away from breaking the Griffins’ all-time games played record, held by Travis Richards with 655 games (1995-2006).

AHL Leaderboard Tracker
Jonatan Berggren—49 points (16-30—46) are tied for fifth among first-year players, 33 assists rank fourth among rookies, five game-winning goals place fourth among rookies
Ryan Murphy—11 goals are tied for third among defensemen
Calvin Pickard—2.58 goals against average ranks 13th, 0.918 save percentage places eighth, 21 wins are tied for fifth, 2534:30 minutes played places third
Dominik Shine—123 penalty minutes rank fifth

Milestones
Kyle Criscuolo appeared in his 300th game in the AHL on April 9 at Toronto. Several others reached games-played milestones on April 9 (Dan Renouf 200th game as a Griffin, Tyler Spezia 200th pro game, Dennis Yan 200th AHL game). Other upcoming milestones include:
Victor Brattstrom—One game from 150 as a pro
Jan Drozg—One game from 150 as a pro, two games from 100 in the AHL
Turner Elson—One goal from 100 as a pro
Jon Martin—One game from 300 as a pro
Tyler Spezia—Four goals from 50 as a pro

Photo by Toronto Marlies