GRIFFINS HEAD TO CHICAGO AND CHARLOTTE

This Week’s Games
GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves // Thurs., Dec. 15 // Noon // Allstate Arena
Listen: ESPN 96.1 FM at 11:35 a.m.
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 1-1-0-0 Road, 3-2-0-0 Overall. Sixth of 10 meetings overall, third of five at Allstate Arena
All-Time Series: 37-29-0-2-0 Road, 74-51-2-6-2 Overall
NHL Affiliation: St. Louis Blues
Noteworthy: The Griffins have not lost consecutive games at Chicago in the same season since the 2013-14 campaign (Dec. 21, 2013: 2-3 L; March 23, 2014: 2-6 L).

GRIFFINS at Charlotte Checkers // Sat., Dec. 17 // 6 p.m. // Bojangles’ Coliseum
GRIFFINS at Charlotte Checkers // Sun., Dec. 18 // 1 p.m. // Bojangles’ Coliseum
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 5:35 p.m. on Saturday and 12:35 p.m. on Sunday
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 0-2-0-0 Road, 0-2-0-0 Overall. Third and fourth of eight meetings overall, third and fourth of four at Bojangles’ Coliseum
All-Time Series: 8-7-0-1 Road, 14-15-0-1 Overall
NHL Affiliation: Carolina Hurricanes
Noteworthy: The Checkers have lost their last seven in a row (0-6-1-0).

Last Week’s Results
Tues., Dec. 6 GRIFFINS 2 at Cleveland Monsters 3 OT 12-6-1-2 (27 points, 2nd Central Division)
Wed., Dec. 7 Chicago Wolves 5 at GRIFFINS 6 OT 13-6-1-2 (29 points, 2nd)
Fri., Dec. 9 Milwaukee Admirals 1 at GRIFFINS 3 14-6-1-2 (31 points, 2nd)
Sun., Dec. 11 GRIFFINS 1 at Chicago Wolves 4 14-7-1-2 (31 points, 2nd)

Opening Faceoff: The Grand Rapids Griffins saw their eight-game point streak (5-0-1-2) come to a close following a 4-1 loss at Chicago last Sunday. Owning a 0.646 points percentage (14-7-1-2), Grand Rapids is positioned second in the Central Division, third in the Western Conference and eighth in the AHL. In terms of points, Grand Rapids’ 31 points are two back of division-leading Milwaukee. Grand Rapids continues its four-game road trip this week with a matinee game at Chicago on Thursday before traveling to Charlotte for a Saturday-Sunday set against the Checkers. When the Griffins and Wolves face off on Thursday, it will be the third meeting in the last nine days between the clubs.

Last Week’s Recap: The Griffins split a pair of overtime games early in the week, dropping a 3-2 decision at Cleveland on Tuesday before claiming a 6-5 win over Chicago on Wednesday. On Friday, Grand Rapids took down AHL-leading Milwaukee 3-1 and pulled even with the Admirals in terms of points in the Central Division race before losing 4-1 at Chicago on Sunday.

Drive Thru Fundraiser: The Griffins will participate in a drive thru fundraiser at 12 Wendy’s locations in West Michigan tonight to help raise money for the Change A Child’s Life campaign and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Players will be working the drive-thru windows from 6-7 p.m. and asking restaurant patrons if they would like to add 50 cents to their bill. A number of Griffins’ Better Halves (players’ wives or girlfriends) will also be participating. All money raised will benefit the Change A Child’s Life campaign for the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

Follow the Leader(s): Matt Lorito (10-16—26), Mitch Callahan (8-11—19) and Ben Street (3-13—16) lead the team in points…Lorito’s 26 points are tied for fifth in the league, 10 goals are tied for 10th and 16 assists are tied for seventh…Kyle Criscuolo’s 15 points (7-8—15) tie for 13th among rookies in point production...Robbie Russo’s 13 points (3-10—13) are tied for 18th among league defensemen…Evgeny Svechnikov paces the club with 30 penalty minutes and Eric Tangradi has a team-best +6 rating.

On the Power Play: The Griffins rank third in the league with a power play percentage of 25.7% (28/109), up nearly eight points in the last month (Nov. 8: 17.9%). Grand Rapids has relied on the power play for 36.4% of its goals (28-of-77), the second-highest percentage in the AHL behind only Tucson’s 44.4% (24-of-54). The power play has been keyed by first-year Griffin Matt Lorito, who ties for fifth in the league in both power play points (4-10—14) and power play assists (10), and Martin Frk, who ties for second in power play goals as six of his eight markers on the year have come on the man advantage.

Whoa, Nellie: Grand Rapids’ recent eight-game point streak (5-0-1-2) marked the sixth consecutive season in which Todd Nelson has guided his team to a points run of at least eight. He led the Oklahoma City Barons to point streaks of nine (6-0-2-1) in 2011-12 (March 7-24), eight (6-0-1-1) in 2012-13 (Nov. 10-29), eight (7-0-0-1) in 2013-14 (Jan. 30-Feb. 21) and 10 (9-0-0-1) in 2014-15 (Nov. 15-Dec. 6) before directing the Griffins on 15- and 13-game winning streaks last season.

Power Play Streaks: Grand Rapids’ franchise record-tying run of 13 consecutive games with a power play goal came to an end following a 0-for-3 performance against Milwaukee last Friday. Take a look at the longest power play streaks in club history:

What Gives?: Following a 4-3 overtime win at Milwaukee on Nov. 12, the Griffins jumped to second in the Central Division. Since then, Grand Rapids hasn’t budged in the standings, holding steady in second while Milwaukee has continued to hold the top spot.

Current Streaks: Ben Street has an assist in three straight and in six of the last seven (0-7—7)…Rookie Kyle Criscuolo has goals in three of the last five (3-2—5)...Matt Lorito has eight points (3-5—8) in the last six games…Eric Tangradi has three points (1-2—3) in his first five games back after missing 12 games due to injury…Evgeny Svechnikov has points in three of the last four (2-1—3).

First Things First: Dylan Sadowy added his name to the list of rookies who have scored their first professional goal with the Griffins this season. San Jose’s 5th choice, 81st overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft who was acquired by Detroit via a trade in May, Sadowy’s initial marker came in the second period of last Friday’s 3-1 win versus Milwaukee. 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 and Dominic Turgeon lit the lamp for the first time on Nov. 26 at Cleveland.

Milestones: With 86 career goals, Mitch Callahan needs just one more to tie Tomas Tatar for third in franchise history…Callahan’s 162 points (86-76—162) place eighth…Nathan Paetsch has 112 career assists and needs two to tie Jiri Hudler for sixth in team history.

Shooting Gallery: The Griffins lead the league in shots for per game (34.54) but rank 20th in shots against (30.79) and as a result, average nearly six more shots (65.33) in their games than the league norm (59.64).

Hold Your Fire: The Griffins have held their opponent to single-digit shot totals in each of the last seven periods. Grand Rapids surrendered just 17 shots against in last Friday’s win versus Milwaukee, the fewest allowed by the Griffins since Jan. 24, 2015 (17 vs. Iowa).

Showing Discipline: The Griffins are the least penalized team in the league, averaging just 8.71 penalty minutes per contest. In fact, Grand Rapids is on pace to log 662 PIM, which would break the franchise record for fewest PIM in a season set by the 2014-15 team with 869. Evgeny Svechnikov has 30 PIM and is on track for 95 this season, which would make him the first team PIM leader to not break the century mark (previous low: Brennan Evans, 111 PIM in 2013-14.

Away for the Holidays: After having eight of the 11 games in the month of November come within the friendly confines of Van Andel Arena, the Griffins will play eight of 13 games in December on the road. Thursday’s contest at Chicago is stop No. 2 in a four-game road trip as Grand Rapids is not back at the Van until Dec. 21.

Chicago Connections: Wolves newcomer Landon Ferraro, who signed with the St. Louis Blues in the offseason, played five seasons in Grand Rapids (2009-10; 2011-15), totaled 140 points (75-65—140) in 270 regular season games and helped the Griffins claim the 2013 Calder Cup...Ferraro’s 75 career goals are tied for sixth-most in Grand Rapids history...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.

Three in Detroit: Tyler Bertuzzi, Brian Lashoff and Anthony Mantha remain on recall with the Detroit Red Wings. Bertuzzi became the 157th Griffins alumnus to play in the NHL when he debuted with the Red Wings during Detroit’s 3-2 shootout win at Philadelphia on Nov. 8. He has appeared in seven games and recorded a minus-one rating but is currently on injured reserve. Lashoff has skated in four games and shows a minus-one rating while averaging 12:23 of ice time. Mantha has seven points (4-3—7), a plus-two rating and two PIM in 14 games.

Kaser’s Calls: Bob Kaser is set to call tonight’s Red Wings-Coyotes game on FSN Detroit, serving as a fill-in for Ken Daniels, whose son recently passed away. The “Voice of the Griffins” since 2000 and a 38-year veteran of hockey play-by-play, Kaser called nine consecutive Red Wings games on radio from Nov. 10-29 while filling in for an ill Ken Kal.

Magic Numbers: The Griffins are 11-2-1-1 when scoring the game’s first goal, 9-1 when leading after one period and 11-1-1-0 when leading after two periods…Grand Rapids is 14-1-0-1 when scoring three goals or more and 0-6-1-1 when scoring two or less.

Walleye Report: Under first-year head coach Dan Watson, the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye post the best record in the ECHL at 18-4-0-0 (0.818). Toledo’s franchise-record nine-game winning streak was ended with a loss at Alaska last Saturday. Former Griffin A.J. Jenks (11-15—26) ties for 10th in the league in scoring while second-year pro Jake Paterson, Detroit’s second pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, is 10-3 while ranking 12th with a 2.60 goals against average and 17th with a 0.908 save percentage. Griffins-contracted Cal Heeter is 8-1 between the pipes and shows a 3.25 GAA and a 0.894 save percentage.

Coreau Climbs Charts: Fourth-year pro Jared Coreau continues to move up the franchise’s ladder in a number of all-time goaltending categories. Compare where his numbers currently stack up and how close he is to the next benchmark:

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 14 wins and 10 (including overtime and shootout) losses: