Griffins Hit Road for Three-In-Three
AHL Grand Rapids Griffins

Griffins Hit Road for Three-In-Three

Published on March 17, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release


Grand Rapids Griffins defend against the Rockford IceHogs
Grand Rapids Griffins defend against the Rockford IceHogs
(Grand Rapids Griffins, Credit: Rockford IceHogs)

This Week's Games

GRIFFINS (43-11-3-1) at Rockford IceHogs (22-32-3-2) // Fri., March 20 // 8 p.m. EDT // BMO Center

GRIFFINS at Rockford IceHogs // Sun., March 22 // 5 p.m. EDT // BMO Center

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM & 1300 AM at 7:45 p.m. EDT on Friday and 4:45 p.m. EDT on Sunday

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey

Season Series: 5-1-0-0 Overall, 2-0-0-0 Away. Seventh and eighth of 10 meetings overall, third and fourth of five at the BMO Center

All-Time Series: 79-53-11-11 Overall, 33-32-5-6 Away

NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Noteworthy: Twenty-nine percent of the remaining regular-season games for Grand Rapids will be against Rockford, as the two teams will meet four more times. The IceHogs trail the Admirals by six points for the last playoff spot in the Central Division.

GRIFFINS at Milwaukee Admirals (24-25-4-3) // Sat., March 21 // 7 p.m. EDT // Panther Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM & 1300 AM at 6:45 p.m. EDT

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey

Season Series: 6-1-2-0 Overall, 3-0-1-0 Away. Tenth of 12 meetings overall, fifth of six at Panther Arena

All-Time Series: 123-88-7-11-8 Overall, 56-47-5-7-5 Away

NHL Affiliation: Nashville Predators

Noteworthy: The Admirals are one of just two teams to defeat the Griffins three times this season, although two of the three losses came in overtime.

Are We Talking About Playoffs?: With the Hershey Bears' 4-1 win over the Rockford IceHogs on Feb. 27, the Griffins clinched a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Feb. 27 marked the earliest clinching date in franchise history (previously March 6) and the earliest for an AHL team since 1993, when the Binghamton Rangers clinched on Feb. 24 with 24 games remaining. Grand Rapids need just two points to clinch a first-round bye and has a magic number of 13 to clinch the division title, a feat not accomplished since the 2014-15 season. The Griffins have led the Central Division for the entire season and are 20 points above second-place Chicago. The Griffins have dropped to second place in the AHL and trail the Providence Bruins by one point in the race for the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, awarded to the AHL's regular-season champions. Grand Rapids is 33-7-3-1 against its division rivals and has outscored them 158-90, suffering its first regulation defeat against the division on Jan. 9 against Texas. The Griffins' 33 wins are the most divisional victories since 2016-17 (40-20-1-3). Eleven of the remaining 14 games for Grand Rapids will be against the Central Division (78.6%). The Griffins will see the most games against the Rockford IceHogs (4).

Battling Through: The Griffins have lost three of their last four games and five of the last eight contests since Feb. 25. In those eight games, Grand Rapids has averaged 3.00 goals per game while allowing 2.63 goals. The Griffins have continued their league-record campaign with a 43-11-3-1 ledger and 90 points through 58 games and possessed the second-best record in the AHL's 90-year history through 55 games. Grand Rapids reached 90 points (56 games) for the first time since 2017-18 (93 pts., 76 games). The team saw its franchise-record tying 15-game win streak from Nov. 22-Dec. 27 come to an end in overtime on Dec. 31, which also tied for the sixth-longest run in AHL history. In addition, the Griffins' 19-game point streak from Nov. 22-Jan. 7 (18-0-1-0) ended on Jan. 9, which tied for the longest run in franchise history. The Griffins are 20-4-1-1 on the road and 23-7-2-0 at home. The 17-game points streak on the road from Oct. 10-Jan. 23 (15-0-1-1) set a new AHL record, eclipsing the 2010-11 Milwaukee Admirals' 16-game run (10-0-4-2). Grand Rapids ranks second in the AHL in points (90) and has a 20-point cushion over Chicago for first place in the Central Division.

Next Man Up: The Griffins have played their last two games without their top-five scorers, as John Leonard, Dominik Shine, Sheldon Dries and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard remain on recall to the Detroit Red Wings and Amadeus Lombardi is out with an injury. This has become a trend for Grand Rapids, as it has played with 12 forwards just three times in its last 13 games due to roster limitations. Nate Danielson, the ninth overall pick by Detroit in 2023 who has 15 points (3-12-15) in 18 AHL games this season, has also been sidelined with an injury since Feb. 20. ECHL forwards William Dufour and Jackson Jutting remain on the roster on professional tryouts.

Welcome to the Team: Last Thursday, the Detroit Red Wings acquired forwards Michael Milne and Wojciech Stachowiak (VOY-tehk sta-HOH-vee-ak) from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for defenseman Ian Mitchell. Milne and Stachowiak were both assigned to the Griffins. Milne, a fourth-year pro, has six points (2-4-6), 34 penalty minutes and a minus-14 rating in 36 AHL games this season split between Iowa, Syracuse and Grand Rapids. Throughout his AHL career, Milne has 66 points (32-34-66) and 124 penalty minutes in 193 outings. Stachowiak is in his first AHL season after spending the previous six campaigns in Germany's top pro league with ERC Ingolstadt. Stachowiak had 17 points (9-8-17), 28 penalty minutes and a minus-six rating in 38 games with Syracuse this season. Throughout his six-year pro career, Stachowiak has 130 points (58-72-130) and 143 penalty minutes in 290 contests.

Start Them Young: Eddie Genborg (YEN-borg), the 44th overall pick by the Detroit Red Wing in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, was signed to an amateur tryout by the Griffins for the remainder of the season. The 18-year-old recently finished his Swedish Hockey League campaign with Timra IK, producing 25 points (9-16-25), 24 penalty minutes and a plus-eight rating in 43 outings. Genborg ranked third in points among U20 skaters in Sweden's top pro league. He also won a gold medal with Team Sweden at this year's World Junior Championship, logging eight points (3-5-8) in seven games. The Trollhättan, Sweden, native played his entire youth career in his home country with Linkoping from 2020-25.

Rewrite the Record Book: With the historic season the Griffins have had, several players have already itched their names into the franchise's all-time single-season record book with 14 games remaining. John Leonard ranks among the single-season leaders in shorthanded goals (3, T5th), game-winners (8, 5th), unassisted goals (4, T5th), shootout percentage (.750, T6th) and shooting percentage (.233, 1st). Michael Brandsegg-Nygard is tied for ninth in game-winners (6), Amadeus Lombardi is tied for first in overtime goals (3), and Dominik Shine ranks second in shooting percentage (.210). In net, Sebastian Cossa is tied for seventh in GAA (2.11), tied for eighth in wins (24), tied for seventh in shutouts (5), and tied for 10th in save percentage (.922). Fellow goaltender Michal Postava ranks first in both GAA (1.78) and save percentage (.936).

Hitting the Road: Only four of the final 15 games for the Griffins will be in Grand Rapids at Van Andel Arena. In addition, only two of the eight regular-season games in April will be played at home. Grand Rapids has fared well on the road, as it is 20-4-1-1 and has not suffered consecutive road losses all season. The Griffins, who have outscored their opponents 98-55 in foreign territory, rattled off a 17-game road points streak from Oct. 10-Jan. 23 (15-0-1-1), which set a new AHL record, eclipsing the 2010-11 Milwaukee Admirals' 16-game run (10-0-4-2).

Busy Times: The Griffins will play three games in three nights this weekend. The team was set to play a three-in-three last weekend, but Friday's game was postponed due to unsafe ice conditions at Van Andel Arena. That game was rescheduled for Tuesday, March 24. As a result of this rescheduling, the Griffins will play four games in five nights (March 20-24) for the first time since the COVID-abbreviated 2020-21 season (May 11-15, 2021), when protocols forced the rescheduling of a game from April 9 to May 11, and just the second time since the final weekend of the 2010-11 campaign (April 6-10, 2011). Grand Rapids played four games in five nights on five occasions in 2010-11 before the AHL eliminated those sequences beginning with the 2011-12 season.

AHL Leaderboard Tracker:

x Michael Brandsegg-Nygard-Tied for 14th in plus-minus (+24), tied for third in game-winners (6), tied for sixth among rookies in goals (16), tied for eighth among rookies in assists (21), tied for fifth among rookies in points (37), fourth among rookies in plus-minus (+24), tied for seventh among rookies in power-play goals (5), second among rookies in shots (121), first among rookies in game-winners (6)

Sebastian Cossa-Second in GAA (2.11), third in save percentage (.922), second in shutouts (5), second in wins (24), tied for 11th in games played (33), ninth in minutes played (1960:35)

x Sheldon Dries-Tied for 15th in power-play goals (7)

Erik Gustafsson-Tied for 13th among defensemen in power-play goals (2)

Alex Kannok Leipert-Tied for seventh in shorthanded assists (2), tied for third among defensemen in shorthanded assists (2)

William Lagesson-Third in plus-minus (+29), first among defensemen in plus-minus (+29)

x John Leonard-Tied for third in goals (27), tied for third in shorthanded goals (3), first in game-winners (8)

Amadeus Lombardi-Tied for seventh in game-winners (5)

x Dominik Shine-Tied for 11th in plus-minus (+25)

Antti Tuomisto-Tied for 14th among defensemen in plus-minus (+19)

Austin Watson-Fifth in penalty minutes (144)

Check out the Grand Rapids Griffins Statistics

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Images from this story

Grand Rapids Griffins defend against the Rockford IceHogs
Grand Rapids Griffins defend against the Rockford IceHogs
(Rockford IceHogs)		   



American Hockey League Stories from March 17, 2026


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