This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS (35-28-4-2) at Rockford IceHogs (30-31-6-2) // Wed., April 16 // 8 p.m. EDT // BMO Center
GRIFFINS at Rockford IceHogs // Fri., April 18 // 8 p.m. EDT // BMO Center

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM & 1300 AM at 7:45 p.m. EDT on Wednesday and 96.1 The Game at 7:45 p.m. EDT on Friday

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey 

Season Series: 6-4-0-0 Overall, 3-1-0-0 Away. Eleventh and twelfth of 12 meetings overall, fifth and sixth of six at the BMO Center

All-Time Series: 71-51-11-11 Overall, 30-31-5-6 Away

NHL Affiliation: Chicago Blackhawks

Noteworthy: The Griffins enter the week in third place in the Central Division, holding the final first-round bye in the division. If Grand Rapids drops to fourth, it will match up against the IceHogs in a best-of-three playoff series.     

GRIFFINS at Iowa Wild (27-36-6-1) // Sat., April 19 // 7 p.m. EDT // Wells Fargo Arena

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

Watch: AHLTV on FloHockey 

Season Series: 3-2-1-1 Overall, 2-1-0-0 Away. Eighth of eight meetings overall, fourth of four at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 53-26-6-4 Overall, 27-15-1-1 Away

NHL Affiliation: Minnesota Wild

Noteworthy: This will be the Griffins’ final regular season contest before they begin the Calder Cup Playoffs. 

Playoff Picture: The Griffins clinched their spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs on March 29. With three games remaining, Grand Rapids is currently two points ahead of Chicago for the final first-round bye position in the Central Division. Grand Rapids will play Rockford (x2) and Iowa this week while Chicago will face Iowa, Milwaukee and Rockford. Five teams make the playoffs, with the top three receiving a first-round bye into the Central Division Semifinals. 

Shine Bright: Since returning from the Red Wings on April 4, Dominik Shine has eight points (3-5—8) in five games, collecting three multi-point outings. Through 58 games, the veteran has career-high totals in assists (31), points (45), power-play goals (5), game-winners (4), and multi-point outings (11). He is also three goals from tying his career best of 17 set in 2021-22. Shine ranks among the franchise leaders in games played (480, 3rd), goals (75, T7th), assists (108, 10th), points (183, 9th), penalty minutes (533, 6th), short-handed goals (5, T8th), game-winners (12, T7th), and unassisted goals (10, T1st). With Shine out of the lineup, the Griffins are just 4-7-0-0 (.364). On Jan. 27, Shine signed his first NHL contract, a two-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings. Later that evening, he made his NHL debut against the Los Angeles Kings. Shine, 31, became the oldest skater to make his NHL debut since defenseman Evgeny Medvedev did it with the Philadelphia Flyers at 33 on Oct. 8, 2015, and the oldest Red Wings player to make his NHL debut since center Vaclav Nedomansky did it at 33 on Nov. 18, 1977. Shine later bagged his first NHL point with an assist on Feb. 1 at Calgary and finished the NHL season with one assist and 15 penalty minutes in nine outings.

The Lombardi Trophy: Second-year pro Amadeus Lombardi recorded three straight multi-point games for the first time in his career from April 2-5, securing seven points (5-2—7) in three outings. Lombardi enjoyed a career-high five-game point streak (5-5—10) from April 2-11 and also has six goals in the last eight games (6-5—11). He also posted a career-high four-game assist streak from March 8-15 (0-5—5) and now has points in 10 of the last 13 outings (6-10—16). Lombardi was sidelined for 28 games due to rehabbing an upper-body injury from Dec. 6-Feb. 15. Since his return, the Aurora, Ontario, native has 22 points (9-13—22) in 21 outings. Through 41 appearances, Lombardi has a career-high 37 points (18-19—37) after showing 26 points (5-21—26) in 70 games as a rookie last season. Despite his limited games, Lombardi still ranks among the team leaders in points (6th), assists (7th) and goals (4th).

Damn Daniel, Back At It Again: Rookie Nate Danielson registered three points in consecutive games against Rockford from April 4-5 (2-4—6). This marked the second and third times this season that the 20-year-old has produced three points in a game (0-3—3 on Dec. 28 at CLE). On April 4 versus Rockford, Danielson bagged his first two-goal game as a pro. He has eight multi-point outings this season, including three assists on April 5 at Rockford and Dec. 28 at Cleveland. Danielson now has seven points (3-4—7) in his last five games since April 4. The ninth overall pick by Detroit in 2023 has 39 points (12-27—39), 33 penalty minutes and a plus-five rating in his rookie campaign. He ranks among the team leaders in points (4th), assists (2nd), and goals (6th). Danielson also places among the AHL rookie leaders in assists (T8th), points (T12th), and short-handed assists (4, 1st).

Not Your Average Joe: Joe Snively registered five assists in two games last weekend and tied his single-game career-high three helpers on April 4 against Rockford. The five assists in two games marked a career high for most assists in a two-game span for Snively and the five points also tied his career-best two games (three previous times. MR: Oct. 28-29, 2023: 2-3—5). Snively now has seven points (1-6—7) in his last five games. Snively has 46 points (21-25—46), 24 penalty minutes and a minus-five rating in 69 games with the Griffins. He has already notched a career-high 21 goals, beating his previous best of 15 in 2021-22 with Hershey. The 29-year-old ranks among the team leaders in points (1st), assists (3rd), and goals (2nd). Throughout 289 AHL regular-season contests, Snively has 218 points (79-139—218) and a plus-52 rating, adding 33 points (6-27—33) in 43 playoff outings. Snively is in search of his third straight Calder Cup, which would put him in rare company, as only 11 players in league history have won three consecutive cups in the AHL and no one has reached this feat since the 1978 season.

Timmy G: Veteran Tim Gettinger is on a six-game point streak (3-3—6) from April 2-12, which is tied for his career high. Prior to this point streak, the 27-year-old had not scored a goal since Jan. 23 and had just one point (0-1—1) in 24 games from Jan. 25-March 26. Gettinger has 16 points (7-9—16) and 17 penalty minutes in 51 games with the Griffins this season, having missed the first 17 contests due to rehabbing a lower-body injury. Throughout 343 AHL appearances, Gettinger has 174 points (81-93—174) and 163 penalty minutes.

Power Surge: The Griffins exploded for a season-high three power-play goals on March 15 at Rockford and are now 8-for-30 (26.7%) on the man-advantage in their last 10 games, which includes a 4-for-15 mark (26.7%) in the last five outings. The power play has also scored in nine of the last 20 games (12-for-61, 19.7%). The power play has moved into 24th place on the circuit at 17.2% (41-for-239) after being ranked 10th at the beginning of February (18.7%). If you break it down further, Grand Rapids’ home power play is 20-for-113 (17.7%, 21st) and its road power play is 21-for-126 (16.7%, T22nd). The Griffins have given up 10 short-handed goals, which is tied for the sixth most. The Griffins’ penalty kill has gone 47-for-59 (79.7%) in its last 20 games and 18-for-24 (75.0%) in the last 10 contests. The team has allowed a power-play goal in five of the last six games (9-for-14 on PK, 64.3%) and in 17 of the previous 29 games (62-for-83 on PK, 74.7%). The Griffins have the fewest penalty minutes in the AHL this season at 681, 37 minutes less than Hershey (718). The penalty kill ranks 18th at 81.6% after starting the month of February in seventh place at 85.1%. The Griffins are 22-6-2-2 when scoring on the power play and 15-17-2-1 when they allow a power-play goal. 

New Faces Producing: Emmitt Finnie secured his first pro point with an assist on April 4 against Rockford and collected his first pro goal the following night at Rockford. The 19-year-old logged a three-game point streak (1-2—3) from April 4-9 and now has four points (1-3—4) in his last five games. Finnie showed 84 points (37-47—84) in 55 games as captain for the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers this season. Defenseman Anton Johansson registered his first AHL point during a three-assist night on April 5 at Rockford. He later bagged two assists on April 11 against Texas and now has five helpers in his previous four contests. The 20-year-old recently joined the Griffins following the conclusion of his SHL season with Leksands IF where he posted 10 points (5-5—10) in 46 appearances.   

Winning Skills: The Griffins are 7-2 during shootouts this season, as the seven wins are tied for the league lead with Ontario (7-1). The last time Grand Rapids won at least seven games in the skills competition was back in 2006-07 (8-5), and it has not had a winning season in a shootout since 2018-19 (6-4). The Griffins are 125-129 all time during the shootout. Cross Hanas (2-for-2), Ondrej Becher (1-for-2) and Nate Danielson (3-for-6) lead the way for Grand Rapids. In net, Sebastian Cossa is 17-for-22 (77.3%) this season and 31-for-40 (77.5%) all time as a Griffin in the shootout, which ranks fifth in franchise history.

Batten Down the Hatches: The Griffins’ defense has allowed 3.55 goals per game in its last nine games. Grand Rapids allowed 2.90 goals per game in the month of March and has now allowed 3.11 goals since the start of the calendar year. The Griffins have dropped to 10th in the AHL with 2.86 goals allowed after starting February ranked first with 2.43 goals allowed. Sebastian Cossa has shown a 2.47 GAA and .910 save percentage through 39 games, and Jack Campbell has a 3.08 GAA and an .886 save percentage in 13 appearances. Scoring at least three goals has been key for Grand Rapids, as it has a 29-4-0-1 mark (.868) when reaching at least three goals and a 6-24-4-1 (.243) record when it fails to do so. 

AHL Leaderboard Tracker:
Shai Buium—Tied for seventh among rookie defensemen in assists (22), 12th among rookie defensemen in points (24), tied for sixth among rookie defensemen in power-play goals (2), tied for sixth among rookie defensemen in power-play assists (8), T12th among rookie defensemen in shots (79)
Sebastian Cossa—10th in minutes played (2,305:13), tied for 11th in games played (39), tied for 11th in GAA (2.47), tied for 12th in wins (20), tied for 13th in save percentage (.910)
Nate Danielson—Tied for eighth among rookies in assists (27), tied for 12th among rookies in points (39), second in short-handed assists (4), first among rookies in short-handed assists (4)
Josiah Didier—Tied for seventh in short-handed assists (2), tied for third among defensemen in short-handed assists (2)
Alex Doucet—Tied for third among rookies in short-handed goals (2) 
Sheldon Dries—Tied for 10th in game-winners (6)
Dominik Shine—Tied for seventh in short-handed assists (2)
x Austin Watson—Tied for first in major penalties (10), tied for seventh in short-handed goals (3)

Milestones:
Last Friday, Dominik Shine moved into a tie for seventh place on the franchise’s all-time goals scored list with 75 (Landon Ferraro & Kip Miller). 
Brogan Rafferty—Two points from 50 as a Griffin
Dominik Shine—Three goals from moving into a tie for sixth place on the franchise’s all-time goals scored list (Jamie Tardif 78), one assist from moving into a tie for ninth on the franchise’s all-time assist list (Tomas Tatar 109), one unassisted goal from claiming the franchise record of 11

Photo by Nicolas Carrillo/Griffins