Griffins Clash Against Top Two Teams

This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves // Wed., Jan. 12 // 8 p.m. EST // Allstate Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7:35 p.m.

Watch: NHL Network / My50 Chicago / AHLTV

Season Series: 0-4-1-0 Overall, 0-1-0-0 Away. Sixth of 12 meetings overall, second of six at Allstate Arena.

All-Time Series: 90-75-2-7-3 Overall, 46-40-0-2-1 Away

NHL Affiliation: Carolina Hurricanes

Noteworthy: The Griffins are winless in their past five games against Chicago, having been outscored 19-8. Despite being 11-24-1-1 against the Wolves over the past five seasons, Grand Rapids still holds a 90-75-2-7-3 overall record against Chicago. Chicago’s Andrew Poturalski has been Grand Rapids’ nemesis this season, as the forward has 13 points (6-7—13) in five games

GRIFFINS vs. Manitoba Moose // Fri., Jan. 14 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
GRIFFINS vs. Manitoba Moose // Sat., Jan. 15 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: 96.1 TheGame at 6:35 p.m. on Friday, WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday.

Watch: AHLTV (Free on Saturday)

Season Series: 1-4-0-1 Overall, 1-1-0-0 Home. Seventh and eighth of eight meetings overall, third and fourth of four at Van Andel Arena.

All-Time Series: 66-37-1-1-8 Overall, 36-15-1-1-5 Home

NHL Affiliation: Winnipeg Jets

Noteworthy: Since the Moose rejoined the AHL in 2015-16, Grand Rapids is 22-11-0-1 against them, including a 14-5-0-0 ledger at Van Andel Arena. Every season since 2015-16, the Griffins have had a .500 or above record against the Moose at home and have outscored them 48-41.

Last Week’s Results
Wed., Jan. 5 // GRIFFINS 7 vs. Milwaukee 2 // 12-10-3-1 (28 pts., 0.538, 3rd Central Division)
Fri., Jan. 7 // GRIFFINS 3 vs. Iowa 1 // 13-10-3-1 (30 pts., 0.556, 3rd Central Division)
Sat., Jan. 8 // GRIFFINS 1 vs. Cleveland 2 (OT) // 13-10-4-1 (31 pts., 0.554, 3rd Central Division)

Last Week’s Notes
Wednesday vs. Milwaukee (7-2 W) - A season-high seven goals were more than enough to push the Griffins to their third straight victory against the Milwaukee Admirals. The three-game win streak tied for the longest by the Griffins this campaign. Grand Rapids now has a six-game point streak against Milwaukee (5-0-1-0) this season. Turner Elson scored a goal for the fifth time in his last six contests. Dennis Yan (2-0—2), Max Humitz (1-1—2) and Tyler Spezia (1-2—3) joined Elson (1-1—2) with multi-point games. Spezia’s three points notched a career high for the forward. Kyle Criscuolo also extended his point streak (7-11—18) to 10 outings, which tied for the ninth-longest scoring run in Grand Rapids history and the longest since Matt Puempel’s 11-game tear from Oct. 23-Nov. 15, 2019. Erik Bradford recorded his first point as a Griffin during his season debut. Recap | Highlights

Friday vs. Iowa (3-1 W) - The Griffins extended their season-high win streak to four-games after a 3-1 victory over the Iowa Wild at Van Andel Arena. The win also pushed the Griffins’ point streak to five games (4-0-1-0). Calvin Pickard recorded 35 saves while Taro Hirose stretched his scoring streak (3-2—5) to three games, as the former Michigan State Spartan notched his third goal over the last three contests. Defenseman Gordi Myer earned his first AHL point on an assist. Chase Pearson bagged his first goal since Oct. 30. The Griffins did not incur a penalty for the first time this season. Kyle Criscuolo saw his career-high 10-game point streak (7-11—18 from Nov. 20-Jan. 5) come to an end. 2017 Calder Cup champions Joe Hicketts (2016-21) and Dominic Turgeon (2016-21) played in their first game in Grand Rapids as visitors. Recap | Highlights

Saturday vs. Cleveland (2-1 OTL) - Trey Fix-Wolansky’s overtime goal pushed the Cleveland Monsters over Grand Rapids 2-1 at Van Andel Arena. Although the Griffins’ four-game win streak came to an end, their point streak extended to six games (4-0-2-0). Despite the loss, goaltender Victor Brattstrom recorded a season-high 34 saves. Taro Hirose continued his four-game scoring streak (3-3—6) with an assist. After seeing his 10-game point streak come to a close on Jan. 7 against Iowa, Kyle Criscuolo registered the lone goal for the Griffins. Recap | Highlights

Huffin’ and Puffin’: So far this season, the Griffins are 1-8-1-1 (0.182) against the Central Division-leading Chicago Wolves and second-place Manitoba Moose. However, Grand Rapids is 12-2-3-0 (0.794) against the rest of the AHL.

Winning Resolution: The Griffins have gotten off to a strong start to ring in 2022, as the team has seven points (3-0-1-0) in the opening four games of the new year. Grand Rapids has outscored its opponents 15-7 in January and has scored an average of 3.75 goals per game while allowing just 1.75. The seven points in four games this month have already surpassed the Griffins’ point total in October (7 GP, 5 pts.) and tied their December count (7 GP, 7 pts.). The active six-game point streak is the longest since an identical 4-0-2-0 run from March 3-26, 2021.

Going with the Flow: It has been a busy season thus far for head coach Ben Simon and general manager Pat Verbeek, as players on professional tryouts have been plentiful for the Griffins this year. Nine PTO skaters have seen action so far this season and have totaled 58 games played; both numbers surpass any full season since Simon joined the team as an assistant coach in 2015-16. On average, 10.4% of Grand Rapids’ lineup has been tryout players, yet the team sits in third place in the Central Division with a 0.554 winning percentage through Jan. 11.

Fast Starts: On Dec. 4, the Griffins set a season high for goals in a period when they exploded for five tallies in the opening frame against Rockford. After rattling off three first-period goals against Cleveland on Dec. 6, Grand Rapids has now outscored its opponents 15-4 over the opening 20 minutes of its last 10 games. The Griffins are 11-4-2-0 (0.706) this season when scoring first and 10-2-0-0 (0.833) when leading after the opening frame. Almost half of Grand Rapids’ goals (34, 40%) have come during the first period.

High-Flying Hirose: After leading the Griffins in assists a year ago with 23, Taro Hirose has picked off right where he left off as he has bagged 18 helpers in the opening 27 games, which is a team high and tied for eighth in the league. Eight assists have come on the power play, which is tied for ninth in the AHL. Hirose logged his second three-point night (2-1—3) of the season on Jan. 1 against Milwaukee, which tied a career high for the forward. In that same game, he also tied a career-best two goals. The former Michigan State Spartan is in the midst of a four-game point streak (3-3—6) from Jan. 1-8. Hirose’s 25 points (7-18—25) this season pace the Griffins and are tied for 16th in the league. He was recalled by Detroit on Dec. 15 and made his NHL season debut on Dec. 18 against the Devils.

Jonny Apple Seed: Rookie Jonatan Berggren is currently enjoying a four-game points streak (0-5—5) from Dec. 22-Jan. 8, which ties Kyle Criscuolo for the longest assist streak on the team this season. The Uppsala, Sweden, native bagged his first AHL goal and two-point (1-1—2) night on Oct. 30, which began a three-game goal scoring streak for the right winger. The forward recorded his first two-goal night in North America on Nov. 20 at Texas. The former second-round draft choice notched his 50th pro assist on Nov. 12 against Manitoba and is tied for 14th among league rookies with seven goals. His 21 points (7-14—21) are tied for seventh among first-year players on the circuit and rank third on the Griffins’ roster.

Murphy’s Law: Reigning AHL defenseman of the year Ryan Murphy has started to find a rhythm offensively for the Griffins. The nine-year pro is tied for sixth on the roster and leads all Grand Rapids’ blueliners with 15 points (5-10—15) in 28 outings. Murphy has climbed up the defensemen leaderboard in the AHL, as his point total is tied for 18th while five goals are tied for fifth. The Aurora, Ontario, native signed a one-year contract with Detroit on July 28, 2021 and is the midst of his inaugural season with the Griffins.

Cris-COOL-o: After being sidelined in the first four games due to an injury, center Kyle Criscuolo has made up for his lost time with 22 points (10-12—22) in 20 contests. The Harvard University graduate logged a two-game point streak (1-1—2) from Oct. 30-31 and surpassed that mark with a 10-game point streak (7-11—18) from Nov. 20-Jan. 5, which set a new career high for the forward. His point streak was the 17th-longest in Griffins history. Most recently, Riley Barber had a nine-game point streak from Feb. 5-March 11, 2021 that was the longest to ever start a Griffins season or career. Criscuolo’s 10-game streak also tied for the ninth-longest scoring run in Grand Rapids history and the longest since Matt Puempel’s 11-game tear from Oct. 23-Nov. 15, 2019.

Rarified Air: Brian Lashoff’s 533 games played for the Griffins ranks first among active AHL players who have spent their entire AHL career with the same club and seventh 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 Roger DeJordy (Hershey Bears 1962-70) for the No. 6 spot on Jan. 7 against Iowa and is now one game away from tying No. 5 Pete Backor (Pittsburgh Hornets 1945-54). Lashoff is still 122 games away from breaking the Griffins’ all-time games played record, held by Travis Richards with 655 games (1995-2006).

AHL Leaderboard Tracker:
Riley Barber—Five power play goals are tied for sixth
Jonatan Berggren—Seven goals are tied for 14th among league rookies, 21 points (7-14—21) are tied for seventh among first-year players
Taro Hirose—18 assists are tied for eighth, eight power play assists are tied for ninth
Ryan Murphy—Five goals are tied for fifth among blueliners, 15 points (5-10—15) are tied for 18th among defensemen
Wyatt Newpower—39 penalty minutes are third among rookies and tied for 12th among league defensemen
Calvin Pickard—2.34 goals against average ranks 10th, 0.930 save percentage places third, 1358 minutes and 701 saves both lead the league
Dominik Shine—58 penalty minutes ranks sixth
Luke Witkowski—47 penalty minutes are tied for third among league blueliners

Milestones: Turner Elson scored his 50th goal as a Griffin on Jan. 5 versus Milwaukee. Other upcoming milestones include:
Ben Simon–Two games from 200 as the head coach of the Griffins
Erik Bradford—One point from 300 as a pro
Turner Elson—One assist from 100 in the AHL, one point from 200 as a pro
Brian Lashoff—One assist from 100 as a pro
Brett McKenzie—Three goals from 50 as a pro
Ryan Murphy—Five goals from 50 as a pro
Dan Renouf—Two games from 300 in the AHL
Dominik Shine—Six points from 100 as a pro
Luke Witkowski—One point from 50 in the AHL

Photo by Mark Newman/Griffins