
Winners of Three Straight, Griffins Host 7-0 Chicago on Friday
February 24, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Grand Rapids Griffins News Release
This Week's Games
Chicago Wolves (7-0-0-0) at GRIFFINS // Fri., Feb. 26 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena
GRIFFINS at Chicago Wolves // Sun., Feb. 28 // 4 p.m. // Triphahn Center Ice Arena
Watch: WXSP-TV and
Facebook Watch (both Friday only),
AHLTV
Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM
Season Series: 0-2-0-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Home, 0-2-0-0 Road. Third and fourth of 10 meetings overall, first of five in Grand Rapids, third of five in Chicago
All-Time Series: 87-66-2-6-3 Overall, 42-29-2-4-2 Home, 45-37-0-2-1 Road
NHL Affiliations: Carolina Hurricanes (primary), Nashville Predators (2020-21)
Noteworthy: The Wolves and Tucson Roadrunners (4-0-0-0) stand as the AHL's only perfect teams, heading into Tucson's game on Wednesday night at Colorado.
Last Week's Results
Thurs., Feb. 18 // GRIFFINS 3 at Rockford IceHogs 1 // 2-2-0-0 (4 pts., 4th Central Division)
Recap | Highlights
Sat., Feb. 20 // Cleveland Monsters 1 at GRIFFINS 2 OT // 3-2-0-0 (6 pts., T2nd) Recap | Highlights
Griffins vs. Wolves
The Wolves have used both a prolific offense and a shut-down defense to amass their 7-0 start. Their 4.86 scoring average is by far the highest in the AHL - 0.86 more than the next three best teams - while Chicago and Grand Rapids are among four teams deadlocked for third in the league by allowing only 2.00 goals per game...After allowing seven goals (including an empty-netter) over their two season-opening losses at Chicago, the Griffins have held each opponent to just a single goal during their three-game winning streak...The Wolves are averaging 3.5 goals per game against the Griffins and 5.4 against the rest of the league, a figure inflated by their 10-2 win over Iowa on Saturday...Chicago hasn't had to travel far to collect its seven wins, as five came at the Triphahn Center Ice Arena while two were earned just 59 miles up the road at Rockford's BMO Harris Bank Center...Taro Hirose, Givani Smith and Dylan McIlrath were all up with the Red Wings when the Griffins dropped the pair of games at Chicago.
Late Bloomers
Seven of Grand Rapids' 11 goals this season have been scored after the second period, including six during the third period and Dennis Cholowski's overtime tally on Saturday...Each of the Griffins' three straight wins has come after the game was tied through 40 minutes of play.
No Soup For You
The 13 shots surrendered by the Griffins in last Thursday's 3-1 win at Rockford were one more than the franchise record for fewest allowed. Two decades ago they held visiting Hershey (Oct. 13, 2001) and host Houston (March 31, 2000) to just a dozen shots each in shutout victories...Kevin Boyle was the beneficiary of that stingy defense, earning the victory to improve to 1-1 with a 2.04 GAA and a 0.902 this season...The Griffins have yet to allow 30 shots in a game, but they've matched or eclipsed that number themselves on three occasions...Grand Rapids allows 24.2 shots per game, third-fewest on the circuit.
Taking Advantage
Both of the Griffins' goals in Saturday's home-opening win against Cleveland came on the power play, giving them at least one such goal in each of the season's first five games and putting them 6-for-23 (26.1%) on the season, tying for sixth in the league.
It's Good to Nag
After allowing just one goal in each of his consecutive wins over Cleveland, Pat Nagle owns a 2-1 record and ranks among the AHL's leaders with a 1.68 GAA (8th) and a 0.937 save percentage (11th). If you exclude goalies who haven't yet played two games, Nagle's rankings rise to fourth and seventh, respectively.
High-Flying Griffins
With an assist on Dennis Cholowski's game-winner last Saturday, Riley Barber pushed his team-high scoring streak to five games and point total to six (2-4-6)...Cholowski has consecutive two-point outings (1-3-4) and has registered points in three of the last four games (2-3-5)...Kyle Criscuolo (2-2-4) and Michael Rasmussen (2-2-4) each have points in four of five games thus far, with Rasmussen owning a three-game point streak (2-1-3)...After feeding Cholowski for that overtime goal, Taro Hirose has three assists in two games since being reassigned from Detroit's taxi squad.
American Hockey League Stories from February 24, 2021
- Max Willman Scores Overtime Winner at Devils - Lehigh Valley Phantoms
- Devils Fall to Phantoms in Overtime, 5-4 - Binghamton Devils
- Bears Drop 4-2 Decision to Penguins - Hershey Bears
- Winners of Three Straight, Griffins Host 7-0 Chicago on Friday - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Monsters Announce April 25th Game Versus Wolves Will be Moved to Saturday, April 24th at 4:00 p.m. - Cleveland Monsters
- San Jose Barracuda Game Postponed - San Jose Barracuda
- American Hockey League Announces Schedule Change - AHL
- American Hockey League Announces Schedule Change - Bakersfield Condors
- Forward Jayson Megna Reassigned to Eagles - Colorado Eagles
- Fulcher Returns from Red Wings - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Condors March Game Jersey Raffle Is Live - Bakersfield Condors
- Heat, Marlies Battle Wednesday at the Saddledome - Stockton Heat
- American Hockey League Announces Schedule Change - AHL
- American Hockey League Announces Schedule Change - Iowa Wild
- Tonight's Game against Iowa Postponed - Texas Stars
- Blue Jackets Assign Defenseman Andrew Peeke to Monsters - Cleveland Monsters
- Game #5 Tucson at Colorado - Tucson Roadrunners
- Marlies Pick up Second Straight Win against Stockton - Toronto Marlies
- Game Preview: Bears at Penguins, 5 p.m. - Hershey Bears
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