CONFERENCE-LEADING GRIFFINS READY FOR THREE DIVISIONAL MATCHUPS

This Week’s Games
GRIFFINS at Iowa Wild // Wed., Jan. 18 // 8 p.m. // Wells Fargo Arena
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7:35 p.m.
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 1-0-0-0 Road, 3-0-0-1 Overall. Fifth of eight meetings overall, second of four at Wells Fargo Arena.
All-Time Series: 10-2-0-0 Road, 21-4-0-1 Overall.
NHL Affiliation: Minnesota Wild
Noteworthy: Three of four matchups this season between the teams have been decided by one goal.

Chicago Wolves at GRIFFINS // Fri., Jan. 20 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m.
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 2-1-0-0 Home, 4-2-0-0 Overall. Seventh of 10 meetings overall, fourth of five at Van Andel Arena.
All-Time Series: 11-15-2-3 Road, 33-24-3-5 Overall.
NHL Affiliation: St. Louis Blues
Noteworthy: The Wolves have three skaters rank inside the circuit’s top 10 in scoring, led by league leader and December’s AHL Player of the Month Kenny Agostino (16-35—51).

Cleveland Monsters at GRIFFINS // Sat., Jan. 21 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m.
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 3-0-0-1 Home, 5-1-1-1 Overall. Ninth of 12 meetings overall, fifth of six at Van Andel Arena.
All-Time Series: 25-12-1-2 Home, 43-25-4-8 Overall.
NHL Affiliation: Columbus Blue Jackets
Noteworthy: In eight games against Grand Rapids this year, Cleveland’s power play is converting on 28.0% of its chances (7/25). In 27 games against the rest of the AHL, Cleveland’s power play stands at 12.4% (12/97).

Last Week’s Results
Fri., Jan. 13 GRIFFINS 3 at Milwaukee Admirals 0 23-9-1-2 (49 points, 1st Central Division)
Sat., Jan. 14 GRIFFINS 5 at Rockford IceHogs 2 24-9-1-2 (51 points, 1st)
Mon., Jan. 16 GRIFFINS 1 at Rockford IceHogs 3 24-10-1-2 (51 points, 1st)

Opening Faceoff: Despite a 3-1 loss at Rockford on Monday, the Griffins have won 10 of their last 13 games and have points in 18 of the last 22 (15-4-1-2) to lead the Western Conference and place third in the AHL with a 0.689 points percentage. Grand Rapids concludes its four-game road trip tonight against Iowa before returning home on Friday to face Chicago and open up a five-game homestand.

This Week’s Promotions: For Friday’s contest against Chicago, fans can enjoy $2 hot dogs and $2 domestic drafts from 6-8 p.m., while supplies last. Saturday’s game is presented by Adventure Credit Union and the first 2,500 fans will receive a Griffins alpine hat.

Last Week’s Recap: Behind two goals from rookie Evgeny Svechnikov and Eddie Pasquale’s second clean sheet as a Griffin, Grand Rapids blanked Milwaukee 3-0 on Friday night. The Griffins pushed their win streak to three games on Saturday with a 5-2 win at Rockford as five skaters recorded multi-point games. Rockford avenged Saturday’s loss with a 3-1 victory over the Griffins in Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee game.

On the Power Play: The Griffins lead the league with a power play percentage of 28.8% (46/160) and have recorded at least one goal while on the man advantage in seven straight games, 12 of the last 13 and 25 of the last 28. Since Nov. 4, the Griffins have not gone more than two games without a PPG. Grand Rapids has converted on the power play in seven of the last eight road contests, going 12 for 31 (38.7%) during that stretch. The Griffins have relied on the power play for 36.5% of their goals (46 of 126), the second-highest percentage in the AHL behind only Tucson’s 36.9% (38 of 103). The power play has been keyed by Tomas Nosek (6-13—19) and Matt Lorito (4-14—18), who lead the team in power play points. Nosek’s 19 points tie for sixth league wide. Martin Frk places fourth in the league in power play tallies as eight of his 12 markers on the year have come with more skaters. Mitch Callahan has been on the ice 31 times during a power play goal, tops on the team.

Chasing PP History: To put in perspective the success of the Griffins’ power play thus far, the franchise record for highest power play percentage in a season is 21.8%, set in 2005-06. Through 37 games, the 2005-06 team stood at 21.5% while on the man advantage (52/242). The 2005-06 club, which played 80 regular season games, also scored 120 PPG, the most in team history. In 2005-06, the team had PP streaks of 13 (franchise record), 11 and two of eight games while this year’s club has runs of 13 (tied record), seven (current) and five.

Specialty Teams: In addition to having the league’s top power play unit, the Griffins have climbed to fourth in penalty killing at 84.8%. The Griffins have not allowed an opponent power play goal in the last five complete games and have killed 23 consecutive penalties dating to the second period of the Jan. 4 game versus Iowa. Grand Rapids is one of two teams (San Jose) to rank in the top five in both PP and PK. In fact, the Griffins’ combined power play and penalty kill percentage of 113.6 leads the league.

Start It Up: The Griffins’ 0.689 points percentage is tied with the 2013-14 (24-10-1-2, 0.689), 2008-09 (22-8-4-3, 0.689) and 2005-06 (24-10-1-2, 0.689) teams for the second-best record in franchise history after 37 games, trailing only the 2000-01 (28-6-3, 0.797) edition.

Follow the Leader(s): Matt Lorito (10-22—32), Ben Street (12-18—30), Tomas Nosek (13-15—28) and Mitch Callahan (11-16—27) lead the team in points...Lorito’s 32 points are tied for 16th in the league and 22 assists are tied for 12th...Kyle Criscuolo’s 22 points (10-12—22) tie for 15th among rookies…Robbie Russo’s 22 points (5-17—22) are the most among team defensemen and tie for 12th among league blueliners…Martin Frk and Dan Renouf tie for the team lead with 38 penalty minutes while Russo and Eric Tangradi are tied with a +9 rating.

Easy Street: First-year Griffin and seventh-year pro Ben Street has points in four consecutive games (4-2—6) and has 10 (6-4—10) over the last seven games. Since Nov. 5, Street has not had two consecutive games without a point.

Being Nosy: Third-year Griffin Tomas Nosek has 28 points (13-15—28) in 27 games, including 12 (6-6—12) in the last seven. He has already matched his assist total from last season and is two goals shy of matching his output from 2015-16 when he skated in 70 contests. The Pardubice, Czech Republic, native is on pace to break his previous career high totals of 19 goals, 25 assists and 44 points that were set in 2013-14 – his last season in Europe – with HC Pardubice. Nosek’s 1.04 points/game are the most on the team while his six power play goals place second.

All-Star Coach: Head coach Todd Nelson has earned the honor to coach the Central Division in the 2017 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Capital BlueCross. Thanks to Grand Rapids’ 5-2 win on New Year’s Eve against Rockford, the Griffins clinched the best points percentage in the division through the end of play on Dec. 31, meriting Nelson’s accolade. In his seventh season as an AHL head coach, Nelson will be making his second trip to the AHL All-Star Classic as a coach, after he previously served as co-coach for the Western Conference at the 2012 All-Star Classic in Atlantic City, N.J. Nelson will become the third head coach in Griffins history to coach in an all-star game, joining Jeff Blashill in 2014 and Bruce Cassidy in 2002 (AHL) and 2001 (IHL).

Russo and Lorito Named All-Stars: Griffins forward Matt Lorito and defenseman Robbie Russo have been selected to play for the Central Division All-Star Team at the 2017 AHL All-Star Classic presented by Capital BlueCross, to be held Jan. 29-30 at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pa. Lorito ranks among the league’s leaders with 22 assists and 32 points. The 5-foot-9, 171-pound winger has been an integral component in the Griffins’ vaunted league-leading power play attack, as his 14 power play assists pace the team and his 18 power play points place second. Lorito has been selected to his first all-star game in his second year as a professional. Russo leads all Griffins defensemen in scoring and ties for 12th among AHL blueliners with 22 points (5-17—22). Russo is the first player in franchise history to be named to a year-end All-Star Team, an All-Rookie Team and an All-Star Classic. During a historic rookie campaign in 2015-16, Russo became the first player in the team’s 20-year history to earn both All-Rookie and All-Star Team accolades in the same season when he was named to the AHL Second All-Star Team.

Home Sweet Home: The Griffins have points in nine of their last 10 games on home ice (7-1-0-2), including wins in six of the last seven. Grand Rapids will play eight games within friendly confines in January, tied for the most home games in a month this season (November). The Griffins are 13-4-0-2 at home this season, and their 28 points are tied for fourth in the league.

Quieting the Crowds: Grand Rapids is 11-6-1-0 on foreign ice and its 23 points tie for seventh in the AHL, despite tying for the 10th-fewest road games played (18). The Griffins’ plus-14 goal differential on the road is tied for second in the league.

As of Late: Over the last 13 games, during which Grand Rapids has collected 10 regulation wins, the Griffins are averaging 3.77 goals and 31.69 shots for per game versus 1.84 goals and 26.54 shots against.

All About Chances: The Griffins are averaging the second-most shots in the league (33.54) and the fifth-most goals (3.41) while surrendering the second-fewest goals (2.41) and the 14th-fewest shots (29.30).

Between the Pipes: With Jared Coreau on recall in Detroit, goaltenders Eddie Pasquale and Cal Heeter have stepped up their games. Pasquale has points in 11 of his 14 starts on the season, ranks 11th with a 2.33 goals against average, has two shutouts and recorded a career-high nine-game point streak (6-0-3) from Nov. 12-Dec. 28. Heeter has won five of his six starts for the Griffins this season and is a combined 15-2 between the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye and Grand Rapids. If he had enough minutes to qualify, Heeter’s 2.16 GAA would rank sixth and his 0.932 save percentage would be second in the AHL. The fifth-year pro is in his first season back in North America after spending the latter part of the 2014-15 season and all of 2015-16 between Zagreb Medvescak (KHL) and Hamburg (DEL).

Spreading the Wealth: Evgeny Svechnikov scored his ninth and 10th goals of the campaign during last Friday’s win at Milwaukee. The Griffins now have seven players with double-digit goal totals, the most in the league.

Rookie Production: The Griffins have played eight rookies this season, which already surpasses last year’s total of seven. Those eight rookies have combined for 80 points (34-46—80), which equates to 27.0% of the team’s goals (34/126), 22.0% of the assists (46/209) and 24.0% of the points (80/334).

Milestones: With 11 goals this season, Mitch Callahan has 88 in his career to rank third all-time in franchise history…He trails only Francis Pare (102) and Michel Picard (158) in the record books…Callahan’s 170 career points (89-81—170) are eighth-most in team history, nine behind Jiri Hudler for seventh…Captain Nathan Paetsch has 115 career assists to rank sixth all-time in team history…Paetsch is 15 behind Derek King for fifth…Matt Lorito needs two points to reach 100 as a pro…Eighth-year Griffin Brian Lashoff needs six games played to reach 300 with Grand Rapids…Eighth-year pro Eric Tangradi needs four games played to reach 100 as a Griffin…Matthew Ford, a ninth-year pro, needs three games played to reach 500 in the AHL.

Showing Discipline: The Griffins are the second-least penalized team in the league, averaging just 10.65 penalty minutes per contest. In fact, Grand Rapids is on pace to log 809 PIM, which would break the franchise record for fewest PIM in a season set by the 2014-15 team with 869. Martin Frk and Dan Renouf lead the team with 38 PIM and are on track for 78 this season, which would make either one of them the first team PIM leader to not break the century mark (previous low: Brennan Evans, 111 PIM in 2013-14).

Magic Numbers: The Griffins are 20-3-1-1 when scoring the game’s first goal, 17-1 when leading after one period and 20-1-1-0 when leading after two periods…Grand Rapids is 24-1-0-1 when scoring three goals or more and 0-9-1-1 when scoring two or less.

Three in Detroit: Jared Coreau, Nick Jensen and Anthony Mantha remain on recall with the Detroit Red Wings. Coreau, the 158th Griffins alumnus to play in the NHL, shows a 5-1-1 record, a 2.70 GAA and a 0.911 save percentage. The 6-foot-6 netminder notched his second career shutout on Monday versus the Atlantic Division-leading Montreal Canadiens. Jensen, the 159th Griffins alumnus to play in the NHL, has skated in 11 games, recording four assists, a plus-two rating and two PIM. Mantha has points in four of the last six games and totals 22 points (11-11—22), a plus-11 rating and 16 PIM in 29 contests.

Walleye Report: Under first-year head coach Dan Watson, the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye have won three straight and continue to lead the league with a 29-7-0-1 record (0.797). Rookies Tyson Spink (18-21—39), Tylor Spink (12-24—36) and former Griffin Shane Berschbach (7-29—36) lead the team in scoring. Second-year pro Jake Paterson, Detroit’s second pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, is 19-5 while ranking fifth with a 2.43 goals against average and tying for eighth with a 0.913 save percentage. Griffins-contracted Cal Heeter, who is on recall in Grand Rapids, is 10-1 between the pipes and shows a 3.03 GAA and a 0.898 save percentage.

Every Goal Counts: Since the Monsters joined the AHL in 2007-08, the Griffins have matched up against them 80 times. Forty-one of those 80 games have been decided by just a single tally, including 24 in overtime or a shootout. The Griffins have the slight edge, winning 21 of the one-goal contests. Dating back to the start of the 2014-15 campaign, 18 of the last 30 meetings between the clubs have been decided by one goal, including five of eight encounters this season (Oct. 22: 3-2 W, Nov. 9: 5-4 SOW, Nov. 30: 2-3 SOL, Dec. 6: 2-3 OTL, Dec. 28: 3-2 W).

Making Ourselves at Home: Over the course of its history, Grand Rapids has shown great success playing on the road against AHL teams from Iowa, combining to post a 14-4-0-1 record (0.763) versus the Iowa Chops (1-0), Iowa Stars (3-2-0-1) and Iowa Wild (10-2). Both road losses against the Wild came last season. In 12 meetings between the Wild and Griffins at Wells Fargo Arena, Grand Rapids is outscoring Iowa 40-25.

Chicago Connections: Griffins head coach Todd Nelson served as an assistant coach with the Wolves for two seasons (2006-08) and won the 2008 Calder Cup in his final season with Chicago…Griffins assistant coach Ben Simon spent three seasons playing for the Wolves (2001-03, 2004-05) and helped Chicago capture the Calder Cup in 2002…First-year Griffins goalie Eddie Pasquale made his AHL debut with Chicago in 2010-11, posting a 2.93 goals against average in 24 outings…The next season, as a member of the St. John’s IceCaps, he was named to the AHL’s All-Rookie Team…A pair of Griffins defensemen were born in Illinois, as Robbie Russo is from Chicagoland’s Westmont and Conor Allen was born in Chicago.

Cleveland Connections: Griffins head coach Todd Nelson played one season (1992-93) on the shores of Lake Erie for the IHL’s Lumberjacks, totaling 42 points (7-35—42) and 115 penalty minutes in 76 games...Assistant coach Ben Simon is a native of Shaker Heights, a Cleveland suburb...Robbie Russo and T.J. Tynan were teammates at Notre Dame from 2011-14 and helped the Irish win the 2012-13 CCHA Championship...Griffins newcomer and assistant captain Matthew Ford spent most of his first three pro seasons (2008-11) with the Monsters, totaling 69 points (39-30—69) in 126 appearances...First-year Griffin and assistant captain Ben Street played in 44 games with the Monsters in 2014-15 and accumulated 39 points (9-30—39).

Back-to-Backs: The Griffins will play back-to-back games a total of 27 times this season. Compare the statistics for when the Griffins have played on consecutive nights:

Win Some, Lose Some: Compare the statistics for the Griffins during their 24 wins and 13 (including overtime and shootout) losses: