Stargazing

This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS vs. Texas Stars // Wed., March 16 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
GRIFFINS vs. Texas Stars // Fri., March 18 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday and 7 p.m. on Friday

Watch: AHLTV on Wednesday, WXSP-TV and AHLTV on Friday

Season Series: 2-1-1-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Home. Fifth and sixth of eight meetings overall, first and second of four at Van Andel Arena.

All-Time Series: 34-19-4-4 Overall, 18-6-1-3 Home

NHL Affiliation: Dallas Stars

Noteworthy: This will be Texas’ first trip to West Michigan since Feb. 9, 2020, as the two teams did not compete against each other in the 2020-21 campaign. The Griffins have points in six straight games against Texas at Van Andel Arena (5-0-1-0).

GRIFFINS at Rockford IceHogs // Sat., March 19 // 7 p.m. EDT // BMO Harris Bank Center

Listen: 96.1 The Game at 6:35 p.m. EDT

Watch: WIFR 23.3 Circle TV (Rockford) and AHLTV

Season Series: 5-1-0-0 Overall, 2-0-0-0 Away. Seventh of eight meetings overall, third of four at BMO Harris Bank Center.

All-Time Series: 57-37-9-11 Overall, 21-25-4-6 Away

NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Noteworthy: Dating back to the final meeting of the 2019-20 season, Grand Rapids now has points in 13 of the last 15 games (10-2-2-1) against Rockford with a plus-22 scoring margin (52-30).

Last Week’s Results
Wed., March 9 // GRIFFINS 2 vs. Chicago 4 // 23-23-5-2 (53 pts., 0.500, T4th Central Division)
Fri., March 11 // GRIFFINS 6 vs. Cleveland 1 // 24-23-5-2 (55 pts., 0.509, 5th Central Division)
Sun., March 13 // GRIFFINS 2 at Chicago 1 (OT) // 25-23-5-2 (57 pts., 0.518, 4th Central Division)

Last Week’s Notes
Wednesday vs. Chicago (2-4 L) - The Chicago Wolves defeated the Griffins 4-2 at Van Andel Arena. Grand Rapids dropped its ninth consecutive game against the Wolves (0-8-1-0), dating back to the last meeting of the 2020-21 season. Turner Elson notched a goal and an assist in the contest, giving him his eighth multi-point game of the campaign (1-1—2). Tyler Spezia joined Elson with a goal while Dennis Yan skated in his 200th game as a pro. The Griffins dropped to 2-11-1-2 (0.219) against the Central-Division leading Wolves and the second-place Manitoba Moose. Grand Rapids went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill, including a 5-on-3 for 1:45. Recap | Highlights

Friday vs. Cleveland (6-1 W) - Grand Rapids’ offensive dominance through the first two periods pushed the Griffins past the Cleveland Monsters 6-1 at Van Andel Arena. The Griffins now have a six-game point streak (5-0-1-0) against Cleveland, dating back to the final meeting last season. Tyler Spezia (2-0—2) recorded two goals in the outing, which tied his career high. Turner Elson notched his 15^th tally on the campaign and now leads the team in goals. Several Griffins had multi-point outings, including Riley Barber (1-1—2), Jon Martin (0-2—2), and Ryan Murphy (1-1—2). Calvin Pickard notched 27 saves and moved to 4-0 this season against the Monsters. Grand Rapids scored three times on the power play, which marked the first game it’s notched multiple goals on the man-advantage since Oct. 31, when the team went 2-for-6 on the power play against Chicago. Butrus Ghafari made his Griffins debut. Grand Rapids has outscored the Monsters 18-8 this season. Recap | Highlights

Sunday at Chicago (2-1 OTW) - Turner Elson’s overtime goal snapped the Griffins' nine-game winless streak (0-8-1-0) against the Wolves, as Grand Rapids came away with a 2-1 victory over Chicago at Allstate Arena. In the victory, Calvin Pickard held Chicago’s offense, which averages 3.29 goals per contest, to just one tally on 27 shots. Ryan Murphy assisted on both goals, which extended his point streak to three games (1-4—5). Elson also pushed his point streak three games (3-1—4) with three goals in just as many outings. Chase Pearson lit the lamp for the seventh time this season. This was just the third time this season that Grand Rapids has trailed after two periods and won the contest (3-18-3-1). The last time Grand Rapids defeated Chicago was back on May 8, 2021. Elson skated in his 450th game in the AHL while Kyle Criscuolo played in his 150th as a Griffin. Jan Drozg made his Grand Rapids debut. Recap | Highlights

Unusual Circumstances: On March 10, the Pittsburgh Penguins reassigned Jan Drozg from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL) to the Grand Rapids Griffins. It is a rare occurrence that a NHL franchise sends a player to a team it is not affiliated with. In fact, it had been nearly 12 and a half years since the Griffins organically acquired a player from another NHL organization (Patrick Rissmiller, 10/22/09). Discounting partial affiliations, in-effect trades, and players who had previously been with the Griffins, it’s happened only six other times in Grand Rapids’ 20 seasons with Detroit.

The Elusive Victory: Grand Rapids and Chicago have a storied history with each other, as the two franchises started competing against one another in 1996. Since then, each club has had its fair share of wins and losses. Chicago’s nine-game win streak from May 8, 2021-March 9, 2022 was the longest streak in series history. The Griffins halted the Wolves’ run this past Sunday when they came away with a 2-1 overtime victory at Allstate Arena. The Wolves had claimed 15 of the past 18 outings against the Griffins, before Sunday’s defeat. However, Grand Rapids went on a near identical 13-3 run from Oct. 14, 2016-Oct. 27, 2017 and held a nine-game point streak (8-0-1-0) against the Wolves from Feb. 15, 2015-April 8, 2016. Despite this cold stretch for Grand Rapids, it still holds a 91-78-2-7-3 (0.536) overall record against Chicago.

Welcome Back, March: The Griffins have had a remarkable stretch of success during the month of March throughout their 25 seasons. Grand Rapids has earned a winning record in March for 13 straight years, in large part by going 0.500 or better on the road during each of those months and despite playing 62% of its games on the road. All time, the Griffins have only had a losing March record three times in 25 years. The last time Grand Rapids suffered a losing record in March was back in 2008. Things that were also happening in March of 2008: Jimmy Howard was playing his third of four full seasons in Grand Rapids; Ben Simon was an alternate captain for the Springfield Falcons, 2.5 years from starting his coaching career; Donovan Sebrango was six years old; President George W. Bush was serving his final year in the White House; and the Red Wings were three months from winning their most recent Stanley Cup.

Home, Sweet Home: The Griffins have had a lot of action in West Michigan during the first three weeks of March. Six of Grand Rapids’ first eight games of the month will be played at Van Andel Arena before closing out March with a season-long five-game road trip. The Griffins went 4-2-1-1 during an identical stretch of games in January and are 3-3-0-0 so far in this stretch of March. The Griffins will play half of their remaining 12 home contests in the first three weeks of this month. Grand Rapids is 13-12-4-1 on home ice this season while it is 12-11-1-1 on the road.

Calvin’s University: Goaltender Calvin Pickard has had a stellar season thus far, as he ranks near the top in multiple categories in the AHL. The 10-year-pro currently is tied for ninth in the AHL with a 2.39 goals against average while his 0.924 save percentage is tied for second in the league. Pickard also ranks second with 2381:46 minutes played and places fifth with 20 wins. Pickard has got it done on the offensive end as well with four assists on the season, which is two more than his previous career high. The netminder has been a work horse for the Griffins this season, appearing in 40 of the 55 games.

Jonny Apple Seed: Rookie Jonatan Berggren registered a career-high four assists on Jan. 18 at Cleveland, which set a new single-game high for any Griffin this season. Berggren’s four helpers were one shy of tying the Griffins’ rookie single-game record of five assists set by Chris Bala (1/10/02). Berggren’s 38 points (14-24—38) are tied for seventh among first-year players on the circuit and rank second on the Griffins’ roster. His 24 assists are tied for eighth among league rookies while his 14 goals are tied for 11th. Berggren is also tied for sixth in the league with five game-winning goals, which also places second among rookies. Berggren is on pace for 53 points, which would place fourth in franchise-rookie history.

AHL Leaderboard Tracker:
Jonatan Berggren—38 points (14-24—38) are tied for seventh among first-year players, 24 assists are tied for eighth among rookies and 14 goals are tied for 11th among rookies, five game-winning goals are tied for sixth in the league and place second among rookies
Taro Hirose—31 assists are tied for 11th, 14 power play assists are tied for 15th
Ryan Murphy—11 goals rank first among blueliners, 28 points (11-17—28) are tied for 16th among defenseman
Calvin Pickard—2.39 goals against average is tied for ninth, 0.924 save percentage is tied for second, 20 wins ranks fifth, 2381:46 minutes played places second
Dominik Shine—102 penalty minutes ranks fourth

Milestones:
Kyle Criscuolo collected his 100th assist as a pro and 50th as a Griffin during his 150th game with Grand Rapids on March 13 at Chicago. Turner Elson recorded his 450th game as a pro on March 13 at Chicago. Other upcoming milestones include:
Jonatan Berggren—Two points from 100 as a pro
Kyle Criscuolo—One assist from 100 in the AHL
Jan Drozg—Three goals from 50 as a pro
Turner Elson—Three points from 200 in the AHL
Brian Lashoff—Two games from 700 as a pro
Brett McKenzie—One goal from 50 as a pro
Ryan Murphy—Four assists from 200 as a pro
Calvin Pickard—Three games from 400 as a pro
Dan Renouf—Three games from 350 as a pro

Photo by Andy Nietupski/TTL Sports Media