GRIFFINS FACE TRIO OF DIVISIONAL FOES

This Week’s Games
Cleveland Monsters at GRIFFINS // Wed., Nov. 30 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m.
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 3-0-0-0 Home, 4-0-0-0 Overall. Fifth of 12 meetings overall, fourth of six at Van Andel Arena
All-Time Series: 25-12-1-1 Home, 42-24-3-7 Overall
NHL Affiliation: Columbus Blue Jackets
Noteworthy: Grand Rapids is outscoring Cleveland 19-11 in four games this season including an 11-2 edge in the last 76:52.

Iowa Wild at GRIFFINS // Fri., Dec. 2 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m.
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 1-0-0-0 Home, 2-0-0-0 Overall. Third of eight meetings overall, second of four at Van Andel Arena
All-Time Series: 10-2-0-0 Home, 20-4-0-0 Overall
NHL Affiliation: Minnesota Wild
Noteworthy: The Griffins have won eight consecutive home games against Iowa.

GRIFFINS at Rockford IceHogs // Sat., Dec. 3 // 8 p.m. // BMO Harris Bank Center
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7:35 p.m.
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 0-0-0-0 Road, 1-1-0-0 Overall. Third of 10 meetings overall, first of five at BMO Harris Bank Center
All-Time Series: 10-15-2-3 Road, 30-24-3-5 Overall
NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks
Noteworthy: Since the start of the 2012-13 season, the Griffins are 14-3-1-1 in 19 regular season games against the IceHogs at Van Andel Arena. In that same time frame, Grand Rapids is 8-8-0-1 in 17 games at Rockford.

Last Week’s Results
Wed., Nov. 23 GRIFFINS 1 at Milwaukee Admirals 3 9-6-0-0 (18 points, 2nd Central Division)
Fri., Nov. 25 Cleveland Monsters 3 at GRIFFINS 5 10-6-0-0 (20 points, 2nd)
Sat., Nov. 26 GRIFFINS 6 at Cleveland Monsters 2 11-6-0-0 (22 points, 2nd)

Opening Faceoff: The Grand Rapids Griffins have won seven of 10 games in the month of November and are positioned second in the Central Division, third in the Western Conference and tied for ninth in the AHL with an 11-6-0-0 record (0.647). Grand Rapids hosts defending Calder Cup champion Cleveland on Wednesday and Iowa on Friday before concluding the week at Rockford on Saturday.

Last Week’s Recap: The Griffins lost at Central Division-leading Milwaukee on Wednesday by a final of 3-1 as Tomas Jurco, who was assigned by Detroit for conditioning, potted Grand Rapids’ lone goal. On Friday against Cleveland, Grand Rapids found itself down 3-0 entering the final period but roared back in the remaining 20 minutes with five goals to win 5-3. The Griffins made it a weekend sweep over the Monsters with a 6-2 win in Cleveland on Saturday.

This Week’s Promotions: Wednesday against Cleveland will be a Winning Wednesday presented by Farm Bureau Insurance. Every time the Griffins win at home on Wednesday, each fan in attendance will receive a free ticket to the next Wednesday game. All fans who were in attendance for the Griffins’ win against the Texas Stars on Nov. 16 can redeem their ticket stub for a free ticket to this game. Friday’s game against Iowa is presented by DTE Energy and fans can enjoy $2 hot dogs/$2 domestic drafts from 6-8 p.m., while supplies last.

Red Wings Recall Jurco: The Detroit Red Wings on Monday recalled forward Tomas Jurco. Assigned on Nov. 22 for conditioning, Jurco contributed two points (1-1—2), an even rating and six penalty minutes in two games last week with Grand Rapids. Including his five games with Grand Rapids in 2015-16 for conditioning – which saw him garner AHL Player of the Week honors on Nov. 23, 2015 – Jurco has 11 points (6-5—11) in his last seven AHL games. The 6-foot-2, 188-pound winger has spent the last three seasons as a member of the Red Wings, compiling 39 points (15-24—39), a plus-four rating and 44 penalty minutes in 143 regular season games. Jurco has made a total of 10 playoff appearances as a Red Wing and recorded two points (1-1—2). The 23-year-old has yet to play in the NHL this year.

Follow the Leader(s): Matt Lorito (7-11—18), Mitch Callahan (4-8—12) and Robbie Russo (3-9—12) lead the team in points…Lorito’s 18 points tie for fifth in the league…Russo’s 12 points are tied for ninth among league defensemen…Lorito also has a team-high 11 assists…Evgeny Svechnikov paces the club with 22 penalty minutes and Nick Jensen has a team-best +5 rating.

Current Streaks: Robbie Russo is on a five-game assist streak (0-6—6)…Ben Street has points in seven of the last nine (2-7—9)…Tomas Nosek has four points (2-2—4) and two goals in the last two games…Martin Frk has four goals in the last five games (4-1—5)…Matt Lorito has three multi-point games in the last five (3-5—8)…Kyle Criscuolo (2-2—4) and Matthew Ford (1-3—4) both registered multiple points in each of the last two games.

Power Play: The Griffins have relied on their power play for 37.5% of their goals (21-of-56), the second-highest percentage in the AHL behind only Tucson’s 46.7% (21-of-45). Grand Rapids has a power play goal in each of the last eight games – going 14-for-45 (31.1%) during that time – to mark the longest such streak since the 2011-12 team went on an eight-game run (Nov. 25-Dec. 11). In the last eight games, Grand Rapids has scored 18 goals at even strength and 14 on the man advantage. The power play has been keyed by first-year Griffin Matt Lorito, who ties for second in the league in power play points (3-9—12) and ties for fourth in power play assists (9), and Martin Frk, who ties for third in power play goals as five of his six markers on the year have come on the man advantage.

Penalty Kill: Grand Rapids’ run of 28 consecutive penalty kills spanning 24 periods came to an end last Wednesday at Milwaukee after the Admirals’ second-period power play tally. Still, the Griffins have not allowed an opponent power play goal in eight of the last 10 games and have surrendered just three goals in the last 32 periods with a man down. The Griffins place fifth in the power play (25.0%) and ninth in the penalty kill (85.2%), one of three teams (Tucson, Chicago) league-wide to rank in the top 10 in both categories.

Shots Fired: Grand Rapids paces the league in shots per game at 35.35 and has eclipsed the 40-shot mark six times in the last 10 games. The Griffins are 5-1 when recording 40 or more shots on goal.

Showing Discipline: The Griffins are the least penalized team in the league, averaging just 9.29 penalty minutes per contest. Grand Rapids has committed 69 minors and four majors for 158 total PIM.

Prophetic Promotions: When Cleveland comes to town on Wednesday, it will mark the third Winning Wednesday promotion of the season. The promotion, in which each fan in attendance receives a free ticket to the next Wednesday game if the Griffins win, has proved to be prophetic as Grand Rapids has won two consecutive home Wednesday contests and nine of its last 11.

Goal Rush: Last Friday against Cleveland, Grand Rapids entered the third period trailing 3-0 but scored five goals in the final 20 minutes to earn the victory…The five goals in the final frame tied a franchise record for most goals for in a home period...The Griffins scored five goals in a home period on 10 previous occasions, most recently on Dec. 27, 2014 versus Iowa (2nd period)...Grand Rapids overcame a three-goal deficit for the first time since being down 3-0 at Iowa on Dec. 13, 2015 before winning 4-3 in overtime...Friday’s contest also marked the second game against the Monsters this season that the Griffins came back from multiple goals down to win...Grand Rapids was trailing 3-1 against Cleveland in the first period on Nov. 9 before eventually winning 5-4 in a shootout.

Scaring Off Monsters: Following last weekend’s sweep of Cleveland, the Griffins are now 4-0 against the Monsters this season and have won six of the last seven overall meetings dating to their division finals series last spring. Grand Rapids is outscoring Cleveland 19-11 in four games thus far including an 11-2 edge in the last 76:52.

Same Team, Different Day: The Griffins and Monsters will square off on Wednesday for the third consecutive time in just a six-day span. Playing a team three or more straight times in the regular season is a relative rarity for the Griffins. In fact, this recent three-game set against Cleveland is only the ninth time ever Grand Rapids has faced the same team three or more times in a row and the first since April 11-14, 2007, when the Griffins met the Hamilton Bulldogs three times over a four-day stretch.

Every Goal Counts: Since the Monsters joined the AHL in 2007-08, the Griffins have matched up against them 76 times. Thirty-eight of those 76 games have been decided by just a single tally, including 22 in overtime or a shootout. The Griffins hold the slight edge, having won 20-of-38 one-goal contests. Dating back to the start of the 2014-15 campaign, 15 of the last 26 meetings between the clubs have been decided by one goal, including two of four encounters this season (Oct. 22: 3-2 W, Nov. 9: 5-4 SOW).

Getting Wild: Since incurring a 3-1 loss to the Iowa Wild on March 8, 2014 at Van Andel Arena, the Griffins have won eight consecutive home games against Iowa, including the first meeting this season, to improve their all-time series record within friendly confines to 10-2. Including the two previous renditions of AHL franchises in Iowa – Stars (4-0-1-1 record from 2005-08) and Chops (1-0-0-0 record from 2008-09) – the Griffins post a 15-2-1-1 record (0.842) all-time at Van Andel Arena against foes from the Hawkeye State.

Familiar Faces: Former Griffins Jeff Hoggan and Teemu Pulkkinen along with former Toledo Walleye head coach and current Wild bench boss Derek Lalonde are expected to be among Iowa’s contingent for Friday’s contest. Hoggan, whose unprecedented four-year run as the team’s captain began with the 2012-13 Calder Cup championship season, has five points (3-2—5) in 15 games with Iowa after beginning the season on a professional tryout. Under Hoggan’s captaincy, the Griffins posted an 8-3 playoff series record, earning at least one series victory in each of the last four seasons, the AHL’s third-longest such streak since the current 16-team playoff format was adopted in 2005. Hoggan also became the first AHL player since at least 2005 to captain his team to at least one Calder Cup Playoff series win in four straight seasons.

Joining the Griffins late in the 2012-13 season, Pulkkinen helped the Griffins win the 2013 Calder Cup before going on to lead Grand Rapids in goals in each of the next two seasons. In 2014-15, despite appearing in only 46 games with the Griffins due to playing 31 games with the Detroit Red Wings, Pulkkinen won the Willie Marshall Award for the league’s top goal scorer and was named an AHL First Team All-Star. Pulkkinen was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Wild on Oct. 11 and assigned to Iowa by Minnesota on Oct. 29. Named the AHL’s Player of the Week on Monday, Pulkkinen leads the Wild in goals (8), points (8-7—15) and power play goals (4).

Head coach Derek Lalonde has guided the Wild to a fifth-place Central Division standing in his first season at the helm of the Wild after spending the last two years with the Toledo Walleye, the ECHL affiliate of the Detroit Red Wings and Griffins. Under Lalonde’s direction, the Walleye won the North Division title twice and compiled a 97-35-7-5 regular season record (0.715), including a league-best 50-15-5-2 mark (0.743) in 2014-15.

In the Mix: Goaltender Eddie Pasquale made his third and fourth starts of the season during the pair of wins against Cleveland last week. A sixth-year pro and first-year Griffin, Pasquale made just his second-ever start at Van Andel Arena last Friday, as his first came back on Nov. 6, 2010 when he made 28 saves in a 4-2 loss as a member of the Chicago Wolves. Saturday’s start marked the first time since March 23-25 of last season when he was with the St. John’s IceCaps that the 6-foot-2 netminder started in consecutive games.

Goalie Carousel: Last Saturday, the Detroit Red Wings recalled goaltender Jared Coreau from the Griffins while Grand Rapids summoned Cal Heeter from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. Coreau served as a backup to Petr Mrazek in Detroit’s 2-1 overtime loss to Montreal that night. Should he debut with the Wings, Coreau will become the 158th Griffins alumnus to play in the NHL. He was recalled twice last season but did not play. Coreau has started 13 games for the Griffins this season and ranks among the AHL’s leaders with eight wins (T3rd), a 2.39 goals against average (T14th), a 0.923 save percentage (T13th), 778:17 minutes (5th) and 371 saves (5th). Heeter is a perfect 8-0 between the pipes for the Walleye, the only unbeaten among qualified goaltenders in the ECHL. The 6-foot-4 netminder is tied for 16th in GAA (2.67), places 20th in save percentage (0.912) and has one shutout as he has helped the Walleye post the best record in the league at 14-3.

Four in Detroit: Tyler Bertuzzi, Anthony Mantha and Jared Coreau remain on recall with the Detroit Red Wings along with play-by-play announcer Bob Kaser. Bertuzzi became the 157th Griffins alumnus to play in the NHL after he debuted with the Red Wings during Detroit’s 3-2 shootout win at Philadelphia on Nov. 8. He has appeared in seven games, recording a minus-one rating and three shots while averaging 9:06 of ice time. On Monday, the Red Wings placed Bertuzzi on seven-day injured reserve. Mantha has four points (2-2—4) in seven games and is averaging 16:34. Recalled last Saturday, Coreau served as a backup to Petr Mrazek during Detroit’s 2-1 overtime loss to Montreal that night. Should he debut with the Wings, Coreau will become the 158th Griffins alumnus to play in the NHL. Kaser is set to call his ninth straight Red Wings game tonight when Dallas visits Detroit. Kaser is serving as a fill-in for Ken Kal, who remains out with an illness. The “Voice of the Griffins” since 2000 and a 38-year veteran of hockey play-by-play, Kaser called the first NHL game of his distinguished career on Nov. 10 when the Red Wings defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 at Joe Louis Arena.

First Things First: Dominic Turgeon added his name to the list of rookies who have scored their first professional goal with the Griffins this season. Detroit’s second choice, 63rd overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Turgeon’s initial marker came in the third period of last Saturday’s 6-2 win at Cleveland. Joe Hicketts (Nov. 12 at Milwaukee, 4-3 OTW) and Kyle Criscuolo (Oct. 18 at Iowa, 4-3 W) both had their first pro goals come in game-winning fashion earlier in the campaign while Evgeny Svechnikov delivered an insurance tally during Oct. 15’s win at Chicago for his first pro goal.

Magic Numbers: The Griffins are 9-1 when scoring the game’s first goal, 7-1 when leading after one period and 8-1 when leading after two periods…Grand Rapids is 11-1 when scoring three goals or more and 0-5 when scoring two or less.

Milestones: With 155 career points, Mitch Callahan (82-73—155) ranks ninth on the franchise’s all-time list and needs two to tie Cory Emmerton for eighth…Callahan’s 81 goals place fourth in team history…Captain Nathan Paetsch has 111 assists in his Griffins career to place seventh all-time and needs three to tie Jiri Hudler for sixth…Matt Lorito needs one game played to reach 100 as a pro.

Novembers to Remember: In recent years, November has shown to be a particularly fruitful month for the Griffins as they are a combined 38-14-1-1 (0.722) in the calendar’s 11th month since the 2012-13 season. Specifically, at home since 2012-13, Grand Rapids is 22-6-0-0 (0.786) in November.

Walleye Report: Under first-year head coach Dan Watson, the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye have won six straight and post the best winning percentage in the ECHL at 0.824 (14-3-0-0). Former Griffin A.J. Jenks (8-12—20) and rookie Tyson Spink (7-11—18) lead the team in scoring while second-year pro Jake Paterson, Detroit’s second pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, is 6-3 with a 2.56 goals against average and a 0.913 save percentage. Griffins-contracted Cal Heeter, who is currently on recall in Grand Rapids, is a perfect 8-0 between the pipes and shows a 2.67 GAA and a 0.912 save percentage with the Walleye.

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 11 wins and six losses: