GRIFFINS PREP FOR PAIR IN TUCSON

This Week’s Games
GRIFFINS at Tucson Roadrunners // Fri., April 6 // 10:05 p.m. EDT // Tucson Arena
GRIFFINS at Tucson Roadrunners // Sat., April 7 // 10:05 p.m. EDT // Tucson Arena
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 9:35 p.m. both nights
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 0-0-0-0 Road, 1-1-0-0 Overall. Third and fourth of four meetings overall, first and second of two at Tucson Arena
All-Time Series: 0-0-0-0 Road, 1-1-0-0 Overall
NHL Affiliation: Arizona Coyotes
Noteworthy: Grand Rapids will play its first game in the state of Arizona since facing off against the IHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners on March 5, 1997.

Last Week’s Results
Wed., March 28 Texas Stars 2 at GRIFFINS 3 SO 37-24-1-7 (82 pts, 3rd Central Division)
Fri., March 30 San Jose Barracuda 2 at GRIFFINS 3 SO 38-24-1-7 (84 pts, 3rd)
Sat., March 31 GRIFFINS 6 at Milwaukee Admirals 2 39-24-1-7 (86 pts, T2nd)

Listen here to Eric Tangradi’s Tuesday interview on West Michigan’s Morning News (WOOD Radio)

Opening Faceoff: The Grand Rapids Griffins have points in seven consecutive games (6-0-0-1) and tie Manitoba for second in the Central Division. The Griffins’ magic number to clinch a franchise-record sixth consecutive Calder Cup Playoff berth is three. Grand Rapids continues its five-game road trip this week when it visits the Pacific Division-leading Tucson Roadrunners for games Friday and Saturday. The Griffins will be playing their first game in Arizona since matching up against the IHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners on March 5, 1997.

Follow the Leaders:
Points: Eric Tangradi (29-31—60), Ben Street (19-41—60)
Goals: Tangradi (29)
Assists: Street (41)
PIM: Dylan McIlrath (117)
Plus-Minus: Filip Hronek (+21)
Goaltender Wins: Jared Coreau (20)
Goals Against Average: Coreau (2.47)
Save Percentage: Coreau (0.916)

Last Week’s Notes:
Wednesday vs. Texas: The Griffins saw their third straight game decided in a shootout...Three rookies (Filip Hronek, Luke Esposito, Axel Holmstrom) scored in the five-round shootout, with Holmstrom’s being the winner...Grand Rapids outshot Texas 42-20...Hronek scored his ninth goal of the season at 11:57 of the second period...Ben Street lit the lamp for the 17th time 35 seconds into the third...Grand Rapids is 2-2-0-1 in the season series against Texas and the teams will play their sixth and final game on April 11 in Cedar Park...Tom McCollum recorded 18 saves to log his fourth consecutive victory, which ties a season high for the team.
Friday vs. San Jose: The Griffins played their fourth straight game that extended beyond regulation...Luke Esposito and Matt Puempel both scored in the four-round shootout, with Puempel’s being the winner...Tom McCollum recorded 33 saves and stopped 3-of-4 attempts in the shootout to win his team-high fifth consecutive start...Dylan McIlrath posted his fifth goal of the campaign just 16 seconds into the second period...Ben Street recorded a goal for the second straight game when he lit the lamp at 7:10 of the third period.
Saturday at Milwaukee: Grand Rapids has points in six straight road games (5-0-0-1)…After falling behind by two goals at the 10:35 mark of the second period, the Griffins scored six unanswered goals to close the game…Eric Tangradi posted a season-high four points (2-2—4), the second Griffin this year with four points (Turner Elson, Oct. 6 vs. MB)…Ben Street added a goal and two assists while defenseman Robbie Russo banked a goal and an assist…Tom McCollum pushed his winning streak to six games after stopping 28-of-30 shots…The Griffins have won seven straight regular season meetings at Panther Arena.

Current Playoff Picture:
CENTRAL DIVISION

x-Clinched playoff berth
Currently in playoff position
Eliminated from playoff contention

Detroit Assigns Three to Griffins: The Detroit Red Wings today assigned defenseman Joe Hicketts, forward Evgeny Svechnikov and goaltender Tom McCollum to the Grand Rapids Griffins. Hicketts has skated in five games with the Red Wings this season, tallying three points (0-3—3), a plus-five rating and two penalty minutes while averaging 17:20 of ice time. Svechnikov has accounted for four points (2-2—4), eight PIM and 15 shots in 14 games with Detroit this season, averaging 8:49 of ice time. McCollum served as a backup to Jimmy Howard in last night’s 5-4 overtime loss at Columbus.

Crawford Joins Griffins: The Griffins yesterday signed defenseman Marcus Crawford to a two-year contract. Crawford also signed an amateur tryout and will join the Griffins for the remainder of this season. Crawford appeared in 68 games with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit this season and posted career highs in points (53), goals (13), assists (40) and penalty minutes (53). He placed second on the club in scoring while pacing the team in assists, shots (228) and power play goals (7). The 5-foot-11, 190-pound blueliner ranked among the league’s top defensemen in points (6th), goals (T7th), assists (7th), shots (3rd), power play goals (T4th) and game-winning goals (5, 2nd).

Sadowy and McCarron Rejoin Toledo: The Detroit Red Wings on Monday reassigned forward Dylan Sadowy from the Griffins to the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye while the Griffins assigned rookie defenseman Patrick McCarron to Toledo.

Yates and Hamilton Signed: The Griffins last Thursday signed center Trevor Yates and defenseman Trevor Hamilton to one-year contracts for the 2018-19 season. Yates also signed an amateur tryout and joined the Griffins last week. Yates skated in 33 games with the Cornell Big Red (ECAC) this season as an alternate captain and posted career highs in points (26), goals (13), assists (13) and plus-minus rating (+17) to cap off a four-year career. Hamilton was named the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year and a First Team All-Big Ten selection this season after leading all conference blueliners with 29 points (6-23—29) in 38 games for the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Road Work: The Griffins have points in six straight road games (5-0-0-1) while outscoring their home opponents 21-11. Grand Rapids is 12-1-0-2 in its last 15 games on foreign ice and 15-2-0-3 in its last 20. The Griffins’ 20 overall road victories are second in the division to only Manitoba’s 23 and tie for the fifth-most in the entire AHL.

Home vs. Road:

Taking the Reigns: Since Jared Coreau was recalled by Detroit on Feb. 20, Tom McCollum posts a 10-5 record, a 2.18 GAA, a 0.923 save percentage and one shutout in 15 appearances, and has won his last six starts. McCollum’s career-high winning streak is seven games, which has been reached twice previously and most recently Nov. 5, 2016-March 25, 2017. McCollum, in his eighth season as a Griffin, became Grand Rapids’ all-time winningest goaltender on Feb. 2.

Tangoal: Eric Tangradi posted a season-high four points (2-2—4) during last Saturday’s 6-2 win at Milwaukee. The ninth-year pro has established career highs for goals (29), assists (31) and points (60) this season, breaking his previous marks of 28-28—56, which were set during his first year as a Griffin in 2015-16. His team-high 29 goals tie for fourth in the AHL. Tangradi’s 60 points tie Ben Street for tops on the team and tie for fifth in the league. Since Jan. 1, Tangradi paces the league with 20 goals, while his 38 points in 37 GP in that span place second.

Hot Street: Ben Street accounted for a goal and two assists in last Saturday’s win, giving him five points (3-2—5) in the last three games. Street needs one more goal to become the fifth Griffin to hit the 20-goal plateau. In the last 32 contests, the eighth-year pro is averaging more than a point per game (14-20—34, 1.06 pts/game) and shows a plus-12 rating.

60 Minutes: Grand Rapids played four consecutive games (March 24-30) that went beyond 60 minutes of play, with all ending up being decided in a shootout (3-1 record). The franchise record for most consecutive games tied after regulation is five, set Jan. 19-30, 2009. The Griffins are 6-7 in shootouts this season, their most times competing in a skills competition since 2010-11 (13).

Special Teams: The Griffins are one of four teams in the league to rank in the top 10 for both power play (3rd) and penalty kill (T8th). Matt Lorito leads the team with 25 power play points (9-16—25), followed by Matt Puempel (9-13—22), Ben Street (5-16—21) and Matthew Ford (12-5—17). Ford’s 12 PPGs tie for fourth in the league and tie for the seventh most in a single season in franchise history. The penalty kill has gone 33-for-36 over the last 12 games.

Model Year: Captain Matthew Ford, a 10th-year pro, has 20-plus goals for the fifth time in his AHL career. His 12 power play goals tie for fourth in the AHL and tie for the seventh most in a single season in franchise history.

Puemped Up: Fifth-year pro and first-year Griffin Matt Puempel has accumulated an AHL career-high 55 points (23-32—55) in 57 games and ranks third on the Griffins in scoring. Acquired by the Red Wings via trade on Oct. 21, Puempel has not gone more than three consecutive games without recording a point in a Grand Rapids uniform.

Filip Hero-nek: Rookie defenseman Filip Hronek, the 53rd overall selection by Detroit in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, ranks among the league’s rookie defenseman leaders with 33 points (2nd), nine goals (T2nd), 24 assists (3rd) and a plus-21 rating (2nd).

Top Single-Season Rookie Defenseman Scorers in Griffins History:

Rookie Espo: Since his most recent recall from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye on March 15, rookie forward Luke Esposito has tallied a point in six of nine games (1-5—6). The former Harvard Crimson scored his first AHL goal on March 23 at Iowa and has scored a shootout goal in each of the last two shootouts.

Marching On: The Griffins finished the month of March 8-5-0-1, the 10th consecutive season Grand Rapids has posted a winning record in the third month of the calendar year. Ben Street (8-7—15) and Eric Tangradi (5-10—15) led the team in scoring in March.

Milestones:
Ben Street – four games played to reach 500 as a pro
Brian Lashoff – four games played to reach 400 as a Griffin
Eric Tangradi – four games played to reach 200 as a Griffin
Dylan McIlrath – four games played to reach 300 in the AHL
Matthew Ford – one game played to reach 600 in the AHL

Whoa, Nelly: Todd Nelson became the 20th head coach in the 82-year history of the AHL to reach 300 career victories following March 16’s overtime win versus Rockford. Nelson’s wins have been split between Grand Rapids (130) and Oklahoma City (176), part of his all-time AHL ledger of 306-188-15-47 (.606). Milestones also achieved by Nelson this season include: becoming the fifth active AHL head coach to coach in 500 or more games on Nov. 11 at Texas, becoming the fifth coach in team history with 100 or more victories on Dec. 2 at Chicago, becoming the fourth coach in franchise history with 200 or more games coached on Feb. 4 at Cleveland, and coaching in his 800th game as a professional head coach on Jan. 6 at Chicago.

Championship Effects: Nine players from the 2017 Calder Cup championship team have played in the NHL this season: forwards Tyler Bertuzzi (Detroit), Kyle Criscuolo (Buffalo), Martin Frk (Detroit), Tomas Nosek (Vegas) Evgeny Svechnikov (Detroit) and Dominic Turgeon (Detroit), goaltender Jared Coreau (Detroit), and defensemen Joe Hicketts (Detroit) and Brian Lashoff (Detroit).

Tucson Notes: Tucson has already clinched a 2018 Calder Cup Playoff bid and leads the Pacific Division…Grand Rapids will play its 15th and 16th games of 18 this season against the Pacific Division on Friday and Saturday…The Griffins are 8-4-0-2 against Pacific Division teams so far…Tucson Arena will become the 62nd road venue the Griffins have played in since the franchise’s inception in 1996…Grand Rapids will play its first game in the state of Arizona since facing off against the IHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners on March 5, 1997 (3-2 W)…The Roadrunners won the inaugural meeting between the teams on Oct. 25 at Van Andel Arena by a 3-1 final…Rookie Dominik Shine registered his first pro goal against Tucson on Oct. 25…Grand Rapids earned its first win against Tucson in the most recent matchup on Feb. 28 in West Michigan.

Up and Down: With a 39-24-1-7 record through 71 games, take a look at how the statistics compare between the Griffins’ 39 wins and 32 (including overtime and shootout) losses:

Back-to-Backs: The Griffins will play back-to-back games a total of 24 times this season. Grand Rapids has won nine of the last 12 on the first night and six of the last nine on the second night. Compare the statistics for when Grand Rapids has played on consecutive days:

Walleye Report: Under second-year head coach Dan Watson, the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye have clinched the regular season’s Central Division and lead the Western Conference with 103 points (49-16-3-2 record). Tyler Barnes (20-31—51) and Kyle Bonis (26-24—50) lead the team in scoring while Griffins-contracted Mike Borkowski (19-29—48) ties for third. Griffins-contracted and 2018 ECHL All-Star Pat Nagle leads the league with 36 victories (36-5-4) while his 2.15 GAA ranks third and his 0.926 save percentage places fourth.