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AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Continue Homestand against Iowa, Chicago

January 10, 2023 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Iowa Wild
Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Iowa Wild
(Grand Rapids Griffins, Credit: Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins)

This Week's Games

GRIFFINS vs. Iowa Wild // Wed., Jan. 11 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

GRIFFINS vs. Iowa Wild // Fri., Jan. 13 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday

Watch: AHLTV on Wednesday and Friday

Season Series: 2-1-0-0 Overall, 1-0-0-0 Home. Fourth and fifth of 10 meetings overall, second and third of five at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 42-19-4-2 Overall, 21-7-3-2 Home

NHL Affiliation: Minnesota Wild

Noteworthy: The Iowa Wild (5th, 34 pts.) come into the two-game set six points ahead of the Griffins (T6th, 28 pts.) in the Central Division standings with one additional game played over Grand Rapids. The top five teams in the division will qualify for the playoffs.

Promotions: Winning Wednesday presented by Michigan First Credit Union, Salute to Badges Night presented by Pro-Tech Heating & Cooling on Friday

GRIFFINS vs. Chicago Wolves // Sat., Jan. 14 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

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

Watch: WXSP-TV and AHLTV (FREE)

Season Series: 1-1-0-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Home. Third of 10 meetings overall, first of five at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 92-82-2-7-3 Overall, 44-37-2-5-2 Home

NHL Affiliation: Carolina Hurricanes

Noteworthy: The Griffins have just four wins in their last 17 contests against the Chicago Wolves in West Michigan (4-12-1-0), including a 0-5-1-0 mark during the 2021-22 campaign. Grand Rapids enters the week tied with the Wolves for 6th place in Central Division with 28 points.

Promotion: Heroes vs. Villains Night presented by Michigan First Credit Union

Last Week's Results

Wed., Jan. 4 // GRIFFINS 3 vs. Cleveland 1 // 12-17-1-0 (25 pts., 0.417, 7th Central)

Fri., Jan. 6 // GRIFFINS 4 vs. Texas 2 // 13-17-1-0 (27 pts., 0.435, 6th Central)

Sat., Jan. 7 // GRIFFINS 2 vs. Texas 3 (SOL) // 13-17-1-1 (28 pts., 0.438, T6th Central)

Last Week's Notes

Wednesday vs. Cleveland (3-1 W) - The Griffins ended their three-game losing skid in a 3-1 victory over the Monsters at Van Andel Arena courtesy of a 26-save performance by Alex Nedeljkovic in his Grand Rapids debut. Seven Griffins tallied points, including goals from Joel L'Esperance, Alex Chiasson and Dominik Shine as well as assists from Steven Kampfer, Simon Edvinsson, Taro Hirose and Austin Czarnik. Cross Hanas returned to the Griffins lineup after rehabbing an injury that kept him sidelined since Nov. 25. In his 300th AHL contest, Kampfer recorded his 100th AHL assist. Recap | Highlights

Friday vs. Texas (4-2 W) - The Griffins snapped the Stars' 12-game point streak (10-0-2-0) with a 4-2 win at Van Andel Arena. Austin Czarnik recorded two goals, moving him into a tie with Pontus Andreasson for second place in goals scored by a Griffins skater this season. In his last six outings since returning to Grand Rapids, Czarnik has tallied eight points (3-5-8) while Andreasson has three points (2-1-3) in his last three contests after tallying the first goal of the game. Jakub Vrana recorded his first point as a Griffin with an assist. Alex Nedeljkovic added 33 saves, improving his save percentage to 0.952 in his first two games as a Griffin (59-62). Recap | Highlights

Saturday vs. Texas (2-3 SOL) - The Stars escaped with a 3-2 shootout victory over the Griffins despite a ferocious comeback by Grand Rapids in the final period at Van Andel Arena. Grand Rapids tallied two-late goals in the third from Drew Worrad and Taro Hirose to send the game into overtime and to push its point streak to three games. Hirose leads the Griffins in points this season (9-22-31) and is in a three-way tie for second in goals scored by a Griffin this season with Pontus Andreasson and Austin Czarnik. Alex Nedeljkovic started his third straight game in net for Grand Rapids, bagging 36 saves on 38 shots. The Griffins moved to 112-120 all time in shootouts when they suffered their first shootout defeat since Jan. 15, 2020 (1-2 SOL vs. MB). Recap | Highlights

Better Things to Come: Following a Calder Cup title in 2017, the Griffins stood at 10-15-1-3 (24 pts.) through 29 games in the 2017-18 season. That 2017-18 team ended the season on a 42-25-2-7 run and finished second in the Central Division, reaching the playoffs for the sixth consecutive campaign. This season through 29 outings, Grand Rapids sat at 11-17-1-0 (23 pts.). Since then, the team has rattled off a three-game point streak (2-0-0-1), an identical start the 2017-18 team had in games 30, 31 and 32 of their respective season that catapulted them into the postseason.z

Alexander The Great: Netminder Alex Nedeljkovic has been a welcomed addition to the Griffins roster, as the goaltender enters his second and final week of his conditioning loan from the Detroit Red Wings. Through three outings, Nedeljkovic has a 2-0-1 record along with a 1.63 goals against average and a 0.950 save percentage. His save percentage ranks third all time among goaltenders on a conditioning loan with the Griffins behind only Curtis Joseph (2003-04, 0.952) and Jonas Gustavsson (2012-13, 0.963). The only other season in Grand Rapids history during which two NHL goalies (Nedeljkovic and Magnus Hellberg) played for the Griffins on conditioning stints was 2005-06, when both Chris Osgood (3 GP, 2-1, 3.34 GAA, 0.882%) and Manny Legace (1 GP, 1-0, 2.00 GAA, 0.909%) donned the Griffins' wings instead of Detroit's.

Nothing Like Some Home Cooking: The Griffins are in the midst of a season-high seven-game homestand that began on Dec. 31 and will conclude on Jan. 14. Grand Rapids is currently 2-1-0-1 during the run with three games to play this week. The Griffins are 7-7-1-1 on home ice while they are 6-10-0-0 away from West Michigan.

Just Keep it Close: The Griffins have had an up-and-down start to the season, but they have excelled at winning close games. In fact, Grand Rapids is 7-0-1-1 (0.889) in games decided by one goal and 4-0-1-0 (0.900) in overtime contests. In comparison, the Griffins are just 6-17-0-0 (0.261) in games decided by two or more tallies. In the 2021-22 season, the Griffins finished with a 13-7-6-2 (0.607) mark in games decided by one goal.

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Images from this story

Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Iowa Wild
Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Iowa Wild
(Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins)		   



American Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2023


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