GRIFFINS TO HOST PAIR AGAINST STARS

This Week’s Games
Texas Stars at GRIFFINS // Wed., Nov. 16 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
Texas Stars at GRIFFINS // Fri., Nov. 18 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m. (Wed.) and ESPN 96.1 FM at 6:35 p.m. (Fri.)
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 0-0-0-0 Home, 0-0-0-0 Overall. First and second of four meetings overall, first and second of two at Van Andel Arena
All-Time Series: 11-3-0-2 Home, 21-8-1-2 Overall
NHL Affiliation: Dallas Stars
Noteworthy: Grand Rapids won 11 of 12 regular season meetings against Texas over the last three seasons (2013-16), including the last nine in a row. Beginning with the Stars in 2014, each of the last three teams to knock Grand Rapids out of the playoffs eventually reached the Calder Cup Finals. Texas and Lake Erie (2016) claimed championships while Utica (2015) finished as runner-up.

Last Week’s Results
Wed., Nov. 9 Cleveland Monsters 4 at GRIFFINS 5 SO 6-4-0-0 (12 points, 4th Central Division)
Fri., Nov. 11 Rockford IceHogs 0 at GRIFFINS 3 7-4-0-0 (14 points, 3rd)
Sat., Nov. 12 GRIFFINS 4 at Milwaukee Admirals 3 OT 8-4-0-0 (16 points, 2nd)

Opening Faceoff: On a three-game winning streak, the Grand Rapids Griffins welcome the Texas Stars to Van Andel Arena for a pair of games on Wednesday and Friday. Representing the Pacific Division, the Stars are the first non-Central Division opponent the Griffins have faced thus far. Grand Rapids will play teams from the Pacific Division a total of 12 times this season. Owning an 8-4-0-0 record (0.667), the Griffins rank second in the Central Division, third in the Western Conference and tie for seventh in the AHL.

Last Week’s Recap: Two of the Griffins’ three wins last week came in extra time. Last Wednesday against Cleveland, the Griffins battled back from a 3-1 deficit to the defending Calder Cup champs and won in a shootout, 5-4. The win marked the first skills competition the Griffins had been involved in since Jan. 9, 2016, which also ended in a victory over the Monsters. On Friday, Jared Coreau recorded his league-leading seventh win of the season by virtue of a shutout as the Griffins beat the Rockford IceHogs 3-0. On Saturday, Grand Rapids jumped out to a 3-0 lead against host Milwaukee only to see the Admirals tie the game in the final minutes of regulation. Joe Hicketts’ first professional goal came in overtime to claim the win and cap a perfect week for the Griffins.

This Week’s Promotions: Wednesday against Texas 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 Cleveland Monsters on Nov. 9 can redeem their ticket stub for a free ticket to this game. On Friday, fans can enjoy $2 hot dogs and $2 domestic drafts from 6-8 p.m., while supplies last. The first 5,000 fans in attendance at the game will also receive a 2017 Griffins calendar, courtesy of Fox Motors.

Prophetic Promotions: When Texas comes to town on Wednesday, it will mark the second 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 eight of its last 10 home Wednesday contests.

Two in Detroit: Anthony Mantha is on recall with the Detroit Red Wings along with play-by-play announcer Bob Kaser. Recalled last Friday, Mantha made his season debut with the Red Wings against Montreal on Saturday and played 18:58, the most minutes for any forward on the team. Kaser is set to call his third straight Red Wings game tonight when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit 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 last Thursday when the Red Wings defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 at Joe Louis Arena.

Bertuzzi Assigned: The Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday assigned forward Tyler Bertuzzi to the Griffins. Bertuzzi became the 157th Griffins alumnus to play in the NHL after he debuted with the Red Wings during last week’s 3-2 shootout victory at Philadelphia. In total, the 21-year-old skated in three games with Detroit and recorded a minus-one rating while averaging 9:57 of ice time. In his second full professional season, Bertuzzi has appeared in nine Griffins games this year and tallied four points (2-2—4).

On the Horizon: After having a four-game home stand to open November, the Griffins will conclude the month with four of their next six games coming at Van Andel Arena. The plethora of home games bodes nicely, as the Griffins have lost just five times at home in November since the 2012-13 season, showing a 20-5-0-0 (0.800) record during that span. Last Saturday’s win at Milwaukee was the first road contest in two calendar weeks for Grand Rapids and the first of three in November.

Star Gazing: Grand Rapids has won the last nine regular season meetings against Texas and 11 of the last 12, outscoring the Stars by a 50-29 margin during that stretch. Dating to the 2012-13 season, Grand Rapids has won seven straight decisions over Texas at Van Andel Arena. Interestingly enough, the Stars fell victim not once, but twice, last season to the Griffins during their pair of double-digit winning streaks. En route to an eventual 15-game winning streak, Grand Rapids entered last season’s first two-game set with Texas riding a 12-game win streak and swept the pair against the Stars. When the Griffins made the return trip to Texas later on in the season in March, Grand Rapids was riding a wave of 11 consecutive victories and went on to win both games. The Griffins enter Wednesday’s matchup with three consecutive wins.

Coreau Climbs Charts: Behind a league-leading seven wins between the pipes this season, Jared Coreau has 52 in his Griffins’ career to rank seventh on the franchise’s all-time list. With just two more victories, the fourth-year Griffin can tie Petr Mrazek and Marc Lamothe for fifth. Recording his 10th career shutout last Friday against Rockford, the 6-foot-6 netminder is tied for third with Lamothe on the franchise’s all-time list. Also occurring last Friday, Coreau played in his 87th career game, which ties Mrazek for eighth all-time. Including 601:11 minutes played this season, Coreau is one of six goaltenders in club history to play in 5,000 or more minutes (5,022:32). With 296 saves this season – second-most in the league – Coreau has 2,398 in his career to place fifth in team history. Coreau also ranks among the league leaders with a 2.10 goals against average (7th) and a 0.934 save percentage (T4th).

Specialty Teams: After allowing a Charlotte power play goal in the first period of a loss on Oct. 29, the Griffins have not allowed an opponent power play goal since, going 24-for-24 while on the penalty kill over the last 17 consecutive periods. On Oct. 30, the Griffins’ penalty kill ranked 24th on the circuit with a 76.9% (20-for-26), but fast forward two weeks later, and the Griffins are now tied for fifth at 87.0% (40-for-46). On the flip side, Grand Rapids has a power play goal in each of the last three games and is 4-for-14 (28.6%) during that stretch. The Griffins are a perfect 7-0 this season when notching a power play tally.

Showing Discipline: The Griffins are the least penalized team in the league, averaging just 9.42 penalty minutes per contest. Grand Rapids has committed 49 minors and three majors for 113 total PIM.

First Things First: A pair of rookies, Joe Hicketts and Kyle Criscuolo, have made the most out of their first professional goals, as each one’s initial marker came in game-winning fashion. Hicketts delivered the unassisted game-winner 1:53 into overtime last Saturday against Milwaukee, while Criscuolo sent home the deciding goal on Oct. 18 at Iowa to cap the Griffins’ third-period comeback from two goals down.

Follow the Leader(s): Matt Lorito (4-6—10) leads the team in points…Anthony Mantha also has 10 points (8-2—10) but is currently on recall with Detroit…Mitch Callahan has a team-high seven assists…Evgeny Svechnikov paces the club with 16 penalty minutes and Robbie Russo owns a team-best +4 rating.

Falling Forward: In recent years, November has shown to be a particularly fruitful month for the Griffins as they are a combined 35-12-1-1 (0.735) in the calendar’s 11th month since the 2012-13 season.

Magic Numbers: The Griffins are 7-1 when scoring the game’s first goal, 5-1 when leading after one period and 6-0 when leading after two periods…Grand Rapids is 8-0 when scoring three goals or more and 0-4 when two or less.

Milestones: Nathan Paetsch needs two games played to reach 300 as a Griffin…Paetsch can become the ninth player in club history, and the second this season (Mitch Callahan, 10/14/16 vs. Chicago), to reach that milestone…With five assists this season, Paetsch has 109 in his Griffins career and is tied with Tomas Tatar for seventh all-time in team history…Callahan (81-72—153) is tied with Matt Ellis for 10th all-time on the franchise’s points list and needs one to tie Jamie Tardif for ninth…Brian Lashoff needs one game played to reach 400 as a pro…Louis-Marc Aubry has played in 318 games as a Griffin and ranks fourth all-time.

Walleye Report: Under first-year head coach Dan Watson, the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye are second in the Central Division with a 9-3 record following last Saturday’s 4-3 overtime win at Cincinnati. Rookie Tyson Spink paces the team in points (4-9—13). Second-year pro Jake Paterson, Detroit’s second pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, is 3-3 with a 3.02 goals against average and a 0.904 save percentage. Griffins-contracted Cal Heeter is a perfect 6-0 between the pipes and shows a 2.44 GAA and a 0.922 save percentage.

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 eight wins and four losses: