Griffins Game #7 * Road Game #4 * AHL Game #110

Season Series: 0-1-0-0 Home Series: 0-0-0-0 Road Series: 0-1-0-0
All-Time Series: 35-23-4-4 All-Time Home Series: 19-15-2-1 All-Time Road Series: 16-14-3-1

Griffins at Stars
Second of eight meetings overall, second of four at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park...Grand Rapids has points in three of the last five games (2-2-1-0) against Texas at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park...In the past five seasons that the Stars and Griffins have met, Grand Rapids is 6-9-2-1 against the Stars in Texas, having been outscored 59-47...Last season, six of the eight games between the Griffins and Stars were decided by one goal, with three games needing overtime...The home team has points in 12 of the past 16 clashes…In seven games, Texas has scored 24 goals while conceding 20...The Stars have given up just four power-play goals on 28 times shorthanded...Former Griffin Riley Barber (2020-22) signed with the Stars’ organization during the offseason and is currently tied for the team lead with eight points (5-3—8)...Joel L’Esperance competed with the Texas Stars from 2017-22 and totaled 136 points (80-56—136) in 183 games.

Last Time Out
The Texas Stars used three goals in the opening 5:20 of play to overcome the Grand Rapids Griffins, taking a 5-2 victory at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park on Saturday. Joel L’Esperance, in his return to Texas after skating with the club from 2017-22, managed to record his third tally of the season via a Jonatan Berggren assist. Dominik Shine recorded a goal for his second straight contest while Sebastian Cossa (19 saves) saw his three-game overall win streak come to an end in net. The Griffins were without forwards Matt Luff and Givani Smith due to being recalled to the Detroit Red Wings.

Rookie Sensations
Rookies Simon Edvinsson, Cross Hanas and Kirill Tyutyayev have gotten off to a fast start to begin the campaign. All three are tied for 15th in the AHL among rookies with four points. Hanas is also tied for seventh among rookies with three goals in six games. After totaling three assists in nine games a year ago, Tyutyayev now has two goals and two helpers in his first five games of the campaign. The Yekaterinburg, Russia, native scored a goal in consecutive games from Oct. 15-19, then tacked on two helpers on Oct. 23 at Toronto. Edvinsson is tied for ninth among rookies with three assists. The defenseman recorded an assist in his AHL debut and followed that performance with three points (1-2—3) on Oct. 15, which included his first goal in North America.

Road Trip!
So far, Grand Rapids is 1-2-0-0 in its eight-game road trip with stops in Iowa, Rockford and Cleveland yet to come. The eight-game journey is the longest in franchise history during the first two months of a season, beating out a five-game trip in November of 2017.

This Date in Griffins History
1996: Griffins earn their first-ever shootout win, edging Cincinnati by a 5-4 count at Van Andel Arena. Pokey Reddick notches a season-high 42 saves, and Len Hachborn tallies the decisive shootout goal.

A Welcome Sight
The Griffins struggled out of the gate in 2020-21, as the team stood at 2-3-0-1 after six games, having been held to two shutouts and just 15 goals scored. In 2022-23, Grand Rapids has looked much improved with a 3-3-0-0 record and 21 total goals, which includes three games with three or more tallies. The Griffins struggled to score a campaign ago, but this season has already seen an eight-goal performance on Oct. 15 (8-5 W vs. San Diego), which was tied for the fifth-highest scoring home game in franchise history.

Matty Ice
The Detroit Red Wings this past offseason signed sixth-year pro Matt Luff to a one-year contract. After totaling 31 points in 30 games with Milwaukee a season ago, Luff picked up right where he left off, as he has seven points (3-4—7) in five games to begin his career in Grand Rapids. Luff is tied for second on the team in points. The Windsor, Ontario, native has three two-point outings in the first five contests and has been held off the scoresheet just once. Luff was recalled by the Red Wings on Thursday and made his season debut that same night at the Boston Bruins.

Preseason Acquisitions
The Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins had a fruitful offseason that brought in free-agent forwards Pontus Andreasson, Austin Czarnik, Cedric Lacroix, Joel L’Esperance and Matt Luff, and defenseman Steven Kampfer. Every offseason signing has at least one point for the Griffins through six games. Czarnik, Kampfer, L’Esperance and Luff all have at least three points through the first six games of the season, including seven or more points for Luff and Czarnik. New players on the team, including rookies, have accounted for 32 of the 57 points by Grand Rapids this campaign.

The Last Czar
Austin Czarnik has made his presence known to begin his Grand Rapids career, as the Washington Township, Mich., native, bagged eight points (4-4—8) in the first six games of the season. Czarnik notched his fourth AHL hat trick on Saturday, Oct. 15, which marked the earliest recorded by a Griffin to start a season, and it tied for the fastest hat trick to start a Griffin’s career (see chart below). The 29-year-old was named the Howies Hockey Tape/AHL Player of the Week on Oct. 17 for his efforts and became the first Griffins forward to win the award since Matt Lorito on Nov. 20, 2016. Czarnik has at least one point in five of the six games to begin his Griffins career.

Pour Me a Draft
Simon Edvinsson on Friday, Oct. 14 made his North American debut against the San Diego Gulls, collecting an assist in the process. He returned on Saturday, Oct. 15 with a three-point outing (1-2—3), which included his first AHL goal. Edvinsson tied Moritz Seider as the highest-drafted defenseman (6th overall) to ever play for the Griffins, and tied Seider and Filip Zadina as the fourth-highest drafted player to suit up for Grand Rapids (Jason Spezza No. 2, Darrin Shannon and Stephen Weiss No. 4). Through his first five AHL games, Edvinsson has four points (1-3—4), which is tied for 15th among rookies. On Oct. 19, Sebastian Cossa tied Mathieu Chouinard (15th by Ottawa in 1998) as the highest-drafted goalie to play for Grand Rapids. The Griffins have had only one other first-round netminder in Tom McCollum (30th by Detroit in 2008), although Tyler Moss was taken 29th overall in the second round by Tampa Bay in 1993. Cossa made 21 saves during his debut against Milwaukee and is currently 3-0-0 to begin his pro career.

Goalie Giants
Each of the Griffins’ four goalies is listed at 6-3 or taller: Sebastian Cossa (6-6), Victor Brattstrom (6-5), Jussi Olkinuora (6-3), and John Lethemon (6-3). Cossa is tied for the tallest player to ever compete for the Griffins, which includes a list headlined by teammate Simon Edvinsson along with Jared Coreau, Francois Leroux, Brad Norton, Michael Rasmussen and Dan Turple. Cossa made his pro debut on Oct. 19 versus Milwaukee and became just the seventh rookie goaltender in Griffins history to win his debut, making 21 saves in the process. Olkinuora is the fifth player to win an Olympic gold medal (2022/Beijing) before joining the Griffins, joining Slava Butsayev (1992/Unified Team/Albertville), Curtis Joseph (2002/Canada/Salt Lake City), Stefan Liv (2006/Sweden/Turin), and Mikael Samuelsson (2006/Sweden/Turin).

How Swede It Is
The Detroit Red Wings have a rich tradition of possessing some of the top talent to come out of Sweden, such as Niklas Kronwall and Nicklas Lidstrom, and more recently Lucas Raymond. This year is no different, as the NHL franchise has sent down a handful of Swedes to the Griffins. In fact, five players hail from Sweden, including Pontus Andreasson, Jonatan Berggren, Victor Brattstrom, Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson. Grand Rapids also features one Russian, Kirill Tyutyayev, and two Finnish players in Jussi Olkinuora and Eemil Viro.

O Captain! My Captain!
Captain Brian Lashoff’s 585 games played for the Griffins rank 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, 2022 against Cleveland and is now 23 games behind No. 3 Howie Yanosik (Hershey Bears, 1957-67). Lashoff is still 70 games away from breaking the Griffins’ all-time regular-season games played record, held by Travis Richards with 655 games (1995-2006).

Joined Forces
Joel L’Esperance signed a two-year deal with the Griffins this past offseason after being a menace to Grand Rapids for the past four seasons with the Texas Stars. In the past four campaigns against the Griffins, L’Esperance amassed 18 points (11-7—18) and an even plus-minus rating in 21 games. His stat line against Grand Rapids becomes even more impressive if you take out L’Esperance’s 2017-18 rookie season when he played just two games against the Griffins and totaled zero points. Throughout the last three years against the Griffins from 2018-22, the Brighton, Mich., native accumulated 18 points (11-7—18) in just 19 appearances to go along with 10 penalty minutes and a plus-one rating. L’Esperance has four points (3-1—4) in his first six games to start his Griffins career.

AHL Leaderboard Tracker
Austin Czarnik—Four goals are tied for 12th
Simon Edvinsson—Three assists are tied for ninth among rookies
Cross Hanas—Three goals are tied for seventh among rookies

Milestones
Matt Luff collected his 149th and 150th point as a pro during a two-point outing on Oct. 23 at Toronto. Albert Johansson also skated in his 150th game as a pro at Toronto on Oct. 23.
Austin Czarnik—Two assists from 150 in the AHL
Joel L’Esperance—Five points from 150 as a pro
Donovan Sebrango—One game from 100 as a Griffin and in the AHL
Givani Smith—Two points from 50 in the AHL and as a Griffin
Tyler Spezia—Four goals from 50 as a pro

Photo by Ross Bonander/Stars