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AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Embark on First 3-In-3 of the Season

December 28, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids Griffins left wing Turner Elson (right) vs. the Milwaukee Admirals
Grand Rapids Griffins left wing Turner Elson (right) vs. the Milwaukee Admirals
(Grand Rapids Griffins, Credit: Trent Dieterle/Griffins)

This Week's Games

GRIFFINS vs. Milwaukee Admirals // Fri., Dec. 31 // 6 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

GRIFFINS at Milwaukee Admirals // Sat., Jan. 1 // 7 p.m. EST // Panther Arena

Listen: 96.1 TheGame at 5:35 p.m. on Friday, WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:35 p.m. on Saturday

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 2-1-1-0 Overall, 1-0-1-0 Home, 1-1-0-0 Away. Fifth and sixth of 12 meetings overall, third of six at Van Andel Arena, second of six at Panther Arena

All-Time Series: 104-69-7-8-8 Overall, 55-33-2-3-3 Home, 48-36-5-5-5 Away

NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Noteworthy: Grand Rapids is 7-7-1-0 in the last 15 overall against the Admirals. Dating back to the 2015-16 season, the Griffins are 14-9-2-1 against Milwaukee at Van Andel Arena with a +13 scoring margin (71-58).

GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves // Sun., Jan. 2 // 4 p.m. EST // Allstate Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 3:35 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 0-4-1-0 Overall, 0-1-0-0 Away

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 in the past five seasons, Grand Rapids still holds a 90-75-2-7-3 overall record against Chicago.

Last Week's Results

Wed., Dec. 22 // GRIFFINS 1 vs. Milwaukee Admirals 2 (OT) // 9-10-3-1 (22 pts., 0.478, 6th Central Division)

Mon., Dec. 27 // GRIFFINS at Cleveland Monsters - Postponed // Rescheduled date TBD

Last Week's Notes

Wednesday vs. Milwaukee (1-2 OTL) - Rocco Grimaldi's power play goal 2:03 into overtime gave the Admirals a 2-1 victory over Grand Rapids at Van Andel Arena. Despite the loss, Turner Elson pushed his goal streak to four games, which is now a career high and the team's longest goal streak this season. Calvin Pickard made his 12th straight start, the most in his career. Kyle Criscuolo extended his point streak (7-8-15) to eight outings with an assist in the contest. Both of Milwaukee's goals came on the power play, as the Griffins failed to kill off two of the seven opportunities. Josh Dickinson appeared in his 150th game as a professional.

Leaders of the Pack: On Dec. 17, Paul Maurice resigned from the Winnipeg Jets. With that, three of the NHL's five longest-tenured head coaches are Griffins alumni:

1. Jon Cooper - Tampa Bay - March 2013

2. Jeff Blashill - Detroit - June 2015 (Griffins head coach 2012-15; 2013 Calder Cup Champion; 2013-14 AHL Coach of the Year)

3. Mike Sullivan - Pittsburgh - Dec. 2015

4. Jared Bednar - Colorado - Aug. 2016 (Griffins defenseman 1998-99)

5. Bruce Cassidy - Boston - Feb. 2017 (Griffins head coach 2000-02; 2001-02 AHL Coach of the Year)

World Traveler: On Dec. 12, defenseman Donovan Sebrango was selected to the 25-man roster for Team Canada at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship. The 19-year-old is representing his home country at the tournament that runs through Jan. 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. This marks the third time in the past four years a player has left the Griffins mid-season to compete in the World Junior Championship, after Filip Zadina represented the Czech Republic in 2019 and Joe Veleno (Canada) and Moritz Seider (Germany) competed at the event in 2020. Sebrango scored a goal in his World Junior debut on Dec. 26, as Team Canada defeated Czechia 6-3.

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 8-2-2-0 (0.750) against the rest of the AHL.

Timmy Turner: Veteran Turner Elson surpassed his goal count (4) from the 2020-21 season, as he totaled his fifth goal of the campaign on Nov. 19. The Edmonton, Alberta, native began the campaign with a goal during the season opener but then was held scoreless in the next four outings. The nine-year pro has cranked it up as of late with an active four-game goal streak (Dec. 6-22), which is a new career high and the team's longest goal streak of the season. In addition, the left winger is enjoying a season-high five-game (4-2-6) point streak from Dec. 4-22. Elson's nine goals are tied with Kyle Criscuolo for the most on the roster while his 16 points (9-7-16) are tied for fourth.

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 8-2 over the opening 20 minutes of its last five games. The Griffins are 8-4-1-0 (0.654) this season when scoring first and 7-2-0-0 (0.778) when leading after the opening frame. Almost half of Grand Rapids' goals (27, 41.5%) have come during the first period.

Jonny on the Spot: Rookie Jonatan Berggren saw his season-high six-game point streak (3-4-7 from Oct. 30-Nov. 13) come to a close on Nov. 17 against Chicago. 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 the AHL 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 eighth among league rookies with seven goals while his 17 points (7-10-17) are tied for 11th among first-year players. Berggren is on pace to notch 56 points this season, which would place third in franchise rookie-scoring history. His goal pace would put him at 23 tallies and would place him in third place behind Francis Pare (T2nd, 24) Justin Abdelkader (T2nd, 24) and Teemu Pulkkinen (1st, 31) for most goals scored by a rookie in a Griffins uniform.

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Images from this story

Grand Rapids Griffins left wing Turner Elson (right) vs. the Milwaukee Admirals
Grand Rapids Griffins left wing Turner Elson (right) vs. the Milwaukee Admirals
(Trent Dieterle/Griffins)		   

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