TEXAS TWICE AND CHICAGO AHEAD FOR GRIFFINS

This Week’s Games
Texas Stars at GRIFFINS // Wed., Nov. 29 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
Texas Stars at GRIFFINS // Fri., Dec. 1 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
Listen: ESPN 96.1 FM at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday, WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m. on Friday
Watch: AHLLive.com
Season Series: 0-0-0-0 Home, 1-1-0-0 Overall. Third and fourth of six meetings overall, first and second of three at Van Andel Arena
All-Time Series: 12-4-0-2 Home, 24-11-1-2 Overall
NHL Affiliation: Dallas Stars
Noteworthy: Grand Rapids has won seven of the last eight against the Stars at Van Andel Arena.

GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves // Sat., Dec. 2 // 8 p.m. EST // Allstate Arena
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7:35 p.m.
Watch: CW 50 (Chicago), AHLLive.com
Season Series: 0-0-0-0 Road, 1-1-0-0 Overall. Third of eight meetings overall, first of four at Allstate Arena
All-Time Series: 40-29-0-2-0 Road, 80-52-2-6-2 Overall
NHL Affiliation: Vegas Golden Knights
Noteworthy: Under Todd Nelson, the Griffins have won seven of nine regular season matchups against Chicago in Illinois.

Last Week’s Results
Fri., Nov. 24 Manitoba Moose 3 at GRIFFINS 1 8-9-0-2 (18 points, 6th Central)

Opening Faceoff: The defending Calder Cup champion Griffins are winless in their last three games (0-2-0-1) and place sixth in the Central Division with an 8-9-0-2 record. In its lone game last week, Grand Rapids fell 3-1 to the division-leading Manitoba Moose on Friday at Van Andel Arena. This week, the Griffins host the Texas Stars for games on Wednesday and Friday before traveling to Chicago on Saturday.

Follow the Leaders:
Points: Matt Puempel (6-10—16)
Goals: Turner Elson (7)
Assists: Puempel, Ben Street (10)
PIM: Dylan McIlrath (40)
Plus-Minus: Elson, McIlrath (+6)
Goaltender Wins: Jared Coreau (5)
Goals Against Average: Coreau (2.83)
Save Percentage: Coreau (0.907)

Last Week’s Notes: The Manitoba Moose scored two goals in the opening 8:01 and goaltender Michael Hutchinson recorded 37 saves on Friday as the Moose beat Grand Rapids by a 3-1 final…After winning five in a row against Manitoba on home ice, the Griffins have now lost two straight…Turner Elson scored his seventh goal of the season in the second period and leads the team in that category…Elson has a team-high six points (2-4—6) in three games against the Moose this season…Friday was the Griffins’ 18th annual Teddy Bear Toss and the 4,000 stuffed animals thrown onto the ice after Elson’s goal will be donated to Hug-A-Bears of Kent County.

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 San Antonio Rampage on Nov. 8 can redeem their ticket stub for a free ticket to this game. On Friday against Texas, fans can enjoy $2 hot dogs and $2 domestic drafts from 6-8 p.m., while supplies last. Friday will also mark the Third Annual Red Kettle Game presented by The Salvation Army. The Griffins will be wearing special Red Kettle jerseys for the game that will be auctioned off post-game with proceeds benefiting The Salvation Army of Kent County.

Texas Notes: The Griffins have either won or shared the season series against Texas every year since 2011-12…The Griffins have won 12 of the last 15 overall against Texas, including a 10-game winning streak from Jan. 25, 2014-Nov. 16, 2016…Grand Rapids has won eight of the last nine against the Stars at Van Andel Arena…Todd Nelson holds a 35-20-3-3 (0.623) all-time mark against Texas as an AHL head coach…Nelson became the fifth active AHL head coach to coach in 500 or more games on Nov. 11 at Texas…Texas, which won the 2014 Calder Cup, missed the playoffs last year to snap a streak of four consecutive postseason bids…Goaltender Mike McKenna is in his first season with the Stars organization...McKenna was the goalie of record during all six games of the 2017 Calder Cup Finals for the Syracuse Crunch and showed a 3.03 goals against average and a 0.909 save percentage...The teams combined for three goals in the first meeting of the season on Nov. 10, the lowest output in a Griffins/Stars game since Grand Rapids beat Texas 2-0 on March 27, 2015.

Chicago Notes: Grand Rapids has won 10 of the last 13 regular season meetings against Chicago at Allstate Arena, including seven of nine under Todd Nelson…Under third-year head coach Nelson, the Griffins are 15-4-1-0 (0.775) in their last 20 regular season games against Chicago…Wolves first-year head coach Rocky Thompson served on Nelson’s staff as an assistant with the AHL’s Oklahoma City Barons from 2010-14...In those four seasons, the Barons posted a 161-105-10-32 (0.591) record and advanced to the postseason every year, including a trip to the 2013 Western Conference Finals...Thompson was elevated to an assistant with the parent Edmonton Oilers for the 2014-15 campaign, a season that saw Nelson take over the NHL club on an interim basis in Dec. 2014…Former Griffin Teemu Pulkkinen leads the Wolves with 19 points (7-12—19) in 19 games…A 2013 Calder Cup champion with Grand Rapids, Pulkkinen skated in 119 games with the Griffins from 2012-15 and scored 121 points (65-56—121)…He appeared in 40 postseason contests and ranks among the franchise’s all-time playoff leaders with 34 points (T3rd), 22 goals (2nd) and nine power play goals (1st)…Head coach Nelson served as an assistant coach for the Wolves for two seasons (2006-08) and won the 2008 Calder Cup in his final season with Chicago…Assistant coach Ben Simon appeared in 196 games with the Wolves from 2001-03 and 2004-05 and was a part of Chicago’s first Calder Cup title in 2002.

Puemped Up: Matt Puempel, who was acquired by the Red Wings organization in a trade on Oct. 21, has scored 13 points (5-8—13) in 13 appearances with the Griffins and leads the team with a 1.00 points per game average. Puempel has five multi-point outings with Grand Rapids.

Special Teams: Grand Rapids is one of three teams (Manitoba, Utica) to rank in the top 10 in both power play and penalty kill. The Griffins’ power play is operating at a 20.2% clip, tying for sixth in the AHL. The penalty kill has seen quite the reversal, going from dead last in the league to its current position tying for sixth at 84.9%. The Griffins allowed four power play goals on seven opportunities at Rockford on Oct. 28, sending them to a league-low penalty killing percentage of 75.5%, but since that time, Grand Rapids has gone 42-for-44 (95.5%) on the penalty kill over its last 10 games.

More to the Mask: Since debuting his new cold-activated mask for this season on Nov. 5 against Milwaukee, goaltender Tom McCollum is 3-2-1 in his last six games and shows a 2.26 goals against average while stopping 167-of-180 shots (0.928). In his eighth season in Grand Rapids, McCollum has 106 victories as a Griffin, which is just three shy of Joey MacDonald’s franchise-record 109 wins. McCollum is already the Griffins’ all-time goaltending leader in games played, minutes and saves.

Whoa, Nelly: Todd Nelson, in his third season as Grand Rapids’ head coach, shows a 99-62-2-8 (0.608) record with the Griffins and needs one win to become the fifth coach in franchise history to reach the century mark. Greg Ireland is the fastest coach in team history to achieve 100 wins, hitting the mark in his 167th game coached while Danton Cole, who attained his 100th victory in his 172nd game, is second. On Nov. 11 at Texas, Nelson, who is in his seventh season as an AHL bench boss, became the fifth active AHL head coach to coach in 500 or more games.

It Takes Two to Tango: Third-year Griffin Eric Tangradi had his season-high five-game point streak snapped in last Friday’s loss, but still has seven points (3-4—7) in the last six games. The ninth-year pro leads all Grand Rapids scorers with 10 points (4-6—10) in the month of November.

November to Remember: Historically, the month of November has been a fruitful one for Grand Rapids, as the Griffins have posted a 0.500 record or better in the month 16 times in franchise history. Since the 2012-13 season, Grand Rapids has tallied a combined 43-18-1-3 (0.692) record in the 11th month of the year. At home in the month of November, the Griffins are a combined 24-8-0-1 (0.742) since 2012-13.

Milestones: Several Griffins are nearing career benchmarks, including Corey Elkins (97 pro goals and 97 AHL points), Turner Elson (194 AHL games and 94 pro points), Matthew Ford (548 AHL games), Matt Lorito (49 AHL goals) and Robbie Russo (148 AHL games).

Goalie Leaders: Eighth-year Griffin Tom McCollum and fifth-year Griffin Jared Coreau both rank in the top five in several categories in Grand Rapids’ all-time goaltending record book.

Up and Down: With an 8-9-0-2 record through 19 games, take a look at how the statistics compare between the Griffins’ eight wins and 11 (including overtime and shootout) losses. Thirteen of the 19 games have been decided by two or more goals. Grand Rapids has scored five or more goals in seven of its eight victories.

Back-to-Backs: The Griffins will play back-to-back games a total of 24 times this season. Compare the statistics for when Grand Rapids has played on consecutive nights:

Championship Effects: Since 2001-02, the year Grand Rapids joined the AHL, nine Calder Cup champions have gone on to qualify for the postseason in the following season, including the Griffins, who reached the conference semifinals in 2014 after winning the franchise’s first championship in 2013. Only one team in this 16-year span repeated as champions (Hershey in 2009 and 2010).

Walleye Report: Under second-year head coach Dan Watson, the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye have points in eight of their last 10 games (7-2-1-0) and lead the Central Division with a 13-4-2-0 record (28 points). Christian Hilbrich (10-8—18) and Griffins-contracted Mike Borkowski (7-10—17) pace the team in scoring. Griffins-contracted goaltender Pat Nagle leads the league with 11 wins while tying for seventh with a 2.38 goals against average and tying for 12th with a 0.916 save percentage.