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AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Clash against Top Two Teams in Division

January 11, 2022 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Chicago Wolves
Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Chicago Wolves
(Grand Rapids Griffins)

This Week's Games

GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves // Wed., Jan. 12 // 8 p.m. EST // Allstate Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 7:35 p.m.

Watch: NHL Network / My50 Chicago / AHLTV

Season Series: 0-4-1-0 Overall, 0-1-0-0 Away. Sixth of 12 meetings overall, second of six at Allstate Arena.

All-Time Series: 90-75-2-7-3 Overall, 46-40-0-2-1 Away

NHL Affiliation: Carolina Hurricanes

Noteworthy: The Griffins are winless in their past five games against Chicago, having been outscored 19-8. Despite being 11-24-1-1 against the Wolves over the past five seasons, Grand Rapids still holds a 90-75-2-7-3 overall record against Chicago. Chicago's Andrew Poturalski has been Grand Rapids' nemesis this season, as the forward has 13 points (6-7-13) in five games

GRIFFINS vs. Manitoba Moose // Fri., Jan. 14 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

GRIFFINS vs. Manitoba Moose // Sat., Jan. 15 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: 96.1 TheGame at 6:35 p.m. on Friday, WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday.

Watch: AHLTV (Free on Saturday)

Season Series: 1-4-0-1 Overall, 1-1-0-0 Home. Seventh and eighth of eight meetings overall, third and fourth of four at Van Andel Arena.

All-Time Series: 66-37-1-1-8 Overall, 36-15-1-1-5 Home

NHL Affiliation: Winnipeg Jets

Noteworthy: Since the Moose rejoined the AHL in 2015-16, Grand Rapids is 22-11-0-1 against them, including a 14-5-0-0 ledger at Van Andel Arena. Every season since 2015-16, the Griffins have had a .500 or above record against the Moose at home and have outscored them 48-41.

Last Week's Results

Wed., Jan. 5 // GRIFFINS 7 vs. Milwaukee 2 // 12-10-3-1 (28 pts., 0.538, 3rd Central Division)

Fri., Jan. 7 // GRIFFINS 3 vs. Iowa 1 // 13-10-3-1 (30 pts., 0.556, 3rd Central Division)

Sat., Jan. 8 // GRIFFINS 1 vs. Cleveland 2 (OT) // 13-10-4-1 (31 pts., 0.554, 3rd Central Division)

Last Week's Notes

Wednesday vs. Milwaukee (7-2 W) - A season-high seven goals were more than enough to push the Griffins to their third straight victory against the Milwaukee Admirals. The three-game win streak tied for the longest by the Griffins this campaign. Grand Rapids now has a six-game point streak against Milwaukee (5-0-1-0) this season. Turner Elson scored a goal for the fifth time in his last six contests. Dennis Yan (2-0-2), Max Humitz (1-1-2) and Tyler Spezia (1-2-3) joined Elson (1-1-2) with multi-point games. Spezia's three points notched a career high for the forward. Kyle Criscuolo also extended his point streak (7-11-18) to 10 outings, which tied for the ninth-longest scoring run in Grand Rapids history and the longest since Matt Puempel's 11-game tear from Oct. 23-Nov. 15, 2019. Erik Bradford recorded his first point as a Griffin during his season debut. Recap | Highlights

Friday vs. Iowa (3-1 W) - The Griffins extended their season-high win streak to four-games after a 3-1 victory over the Iowa Wild at Van Andel Arena. The win also pushed the Griffins' point streak to five games (4-0-1-0). Calvin Pickard recorded 35 saves while Taro Hirose stretched his scoring streak (3-2-5) to three games, as the former Michigan State Spartan notched his third goal over the last three contests. Defenseman Gordi Myer earned his first AHL point on an assist. Chase Pearson bagged his first goal since Oct. 30. The Griffins did not incur a penalty for the first time this season. Kyle Criscuolo saw his career-high 10-game point streak (7-11-18 from Nov. 20-Jan. 5) come to an end. 2017 Calder Cup champions Joe Hicketts (2016-21) and Dominic Turgeon (2016-21) played in their first game in Grand Rapids as visitors. Recap | Highlights

Saturday vs. Cleveland (2-1 OTL) - Trey Fix-Wolansky's overtime goal pushed the Cleveland Monsters over Grand Rapids 2-1 at Van Andel Arena. Although the Griffins' four-game win streak came to an end, their point streak extended to six games (4-0-2-0). Despite the loss, goaltender Victor Brattstrom recorded a season-high 34 saves. Taro Hirose continued his four-game scoring streak (3-3-6) with an assist. After seeing his 10-game point streak come to a close on Jan. 7 against Iowa, Kyle Criscuolo registered the lone goal for the Griffins. Recap | Highlights

Huffin' and Puffin': So far this season, the Griffins are 1-8-1-1 (0.182) against the Central Division-leading Chicago Wolves and second-place Manitoba Moose. However, Grand Rapids is 12-2-3-0 (0.794) against the rest of the AHL.

Winning Resolution: The Griffins have gotten off to a strong start to ring in 2022, as the team has seven points (3-0-1-0) in the opening four games of the new year. Grand Rapids has outscored its opponents 15-7 in January and has scored an average of 3.75 goals per game while allowing just 1.75. The seven points in four games this month have already surpassed the Griffins' point total in October (7 GP, 5 pts.) and tied their December count (7 GP, 7 pts.). The active six-game point streak is the longest since an identical 4-0-2-0 run from March 3-26, 2021.

Going with the Flow: It has been a busy season thus far for head coach Ben Simon and general manager Pat Verbeek, as players on professional tryouts have been plentiful for the Griffins this year. Nine PTO skaters have seen action so far this season and have totaled 58 games played; both numbers surpass any full season since Simon joined the team as an assistant coach in 2015-16. On average, 10.4% of Grand Rapids' lineup has been tryout players, yet the team sits in third place in the Central Division with a 0.554 winning percentage through Jan. 11.

Fast Starts: On Dec. 4, the Griffins set a season high for goals in a period when they exploded for five tallies in the opening frame against Rockford. After rattling off three first-period goals against Cleveland on Dec. 6, Grand Rapids has now outscored its opponents 15-4 over the opening 20 minutes of its last 10 games. The Griffins are 11-4-2-0 (0.706) this season when scoring first and 10-2-0-0 (0.833) when leading after the opening frame. Almost half of Grand Rapids' goals (34, 40%) have come during the first period.

High-Flying Hirose: After leading the Griffins in assists a year ago with 23, Taro Hirose has picked off right where he left off as he has bagged 18 helpers in the opening 27 games, which is a team high and tied for eighth in the league. Eight assists have come on the power play, which is tied for ninth in the AHL. Hirose logged his second three-point night (2-1-3) of the season on Jan. 1 against Milwaukee, which tied a career high for the forward. In that same game, he also tied a career-best two goals. The former Michigan State Spartan is in the midst of a four-game point streak (3-3-6) from Jan. 1-8. Hirose's 25 points (7-18-25) this season pace the Griffins and are tied for 16th in the league. He was recalled by Detroit on Dec. 15 and made his NHL season debut on Dec. 18 against the Devils.

Jonny Apple Seed: Rookie Jonatan Berggren is currently enjoying a four-game points streak (0-5-5) from Dec. 22-Jan. 8, which ties Kyle Criscuolo for the longest assist streak on the team this season. The Uppsala, Sweden, native bagged his first AHL goal and two-point (1-1-2) night on Oct. 30, which began a three-game goal scoring streak for the right winger. The forward recorded his first two-goal night in North America on Nov. 20 at Texas. The former second-round draft choice notched his 50th pro assist on Nov. 12 against Manitoba and is tied for 14th among league rookies with seven goals. His 21 points (7-14-21) are tied for seventh among first-year players on the circuit and rank third on the Griffins' roster.

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Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Chicago Wolves
Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Chicago Wolves
   

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