Griffins Game #17 * Road Game #8 * AHL Game #242

Season Series: 2-0-0-0 Home Series: 1-0-0-0 Road Series: 1-0-0-0
All-Time Series: 45-32-7-8 All-Time Home Series: 30-11-3-2 All-Time Road Series: 15-21-4-6

Griffins at IceHogs
Third of 10 meetings overall, second of five at the BMO Harris Bank Center…Grand Rapids has claimed the first two meetings of the season by a combined 9-4 margin…In the first meeting on Oct. 12, Filip Larsson became the fifth Griffins rookie goalie in the team’s AHL era (since 2001-02) to pick up the win in his AHL debut after his 24-save performance, joining Petr Mrazek (Nov. 3, 2012 at Texas), Tom McCollum (Oct. 3, 2009 at Peoria), Jimmy Howard (Oct. 28, 2005 vs. Iowa) and Simon Lajeunesse (Dec. 12, 2001 at Utah)…Rookie Jarid Lukosevicius scored his first pro goal at Rockford in the initial matchup and two of his three tallies have come against the ‘Hogs…Since the 2016-17 season, the home team in the series has posted a 22-8-2-0 record (0.719)…Dating to April 1, 2017, Grand Rapids has points in seven of its last 12 games at Rockford (2-5-2-3…Grand Rapids has points in nine of the last 10 meetings at Van Andel Arena (7-1-2-0)…As a member of the Griffins, Matt Puempel has 18 points (8-10—18) in 18 GP against the IceHogs...Head coach Ben Simon served as an assistant in Rockford for two seasons (2011-13)…Rockford head coach Derek King played in Grand Rapids from 1999-01 and 2002-04 and is the franchise’s all-time leading playoff scorer (16-25—41) and ranks fifth in regular season points (73-130—203).

Last Time Out (Friday): IceHogs 2 at Griffins 5 - Recap | Highlights
Grand Rapids improved to 2-0 in the season series...Defenseman Alec McCrea tallied an assist while making his AHL debut...Rookie Chase Pearson recorded his first career two-goal game...Filip Zadina notched his second consecutive multi-point outing and has points in four straight...Chris Terry posted a goal and an assist for his team-leading eighth multi-point game of the year...Matt Puempel pushed his career-high point streak to 11 games...Calvin Pickard won his third straight start behind 25 saves...The Griffins finished 1-for-3 on the power play and 6-for-7 on the penalty kill.

Status Update
The Griffins will look for their second three-game winning streak of the season (Oct. 23-26) when they visit the Rockford IceHogs tonight to conclude a weekend home-and-home set. Grand Rapids will return to Van Andel Arena to host the San Antonio Rampage for the first time this season on Wednesday. The Griffins are third in the Central Division standings with an 8-6-1-1 record (18 points).

Puemped Up
In his seventh pro year, Matt Puempel is on a career-high 11-game point streak (8-8—16), bettering his previous record of nine, which was set Jan. 12-Feb. 4, 2018, during his first season as a Griffin. His 11-game run ties for the sixth-longest in Griffins history and is the longest since Evgeny Svechnikov’s 12-game stretch from Jan. 20-Feb. 17, 2017 (see chart). This is the 16th instance in team history of a double-digit point streak. His 11-game run ties Chicago’s Lucas Elvenes for the longest in the league this season. In his third season as a Griffin, Puempel is the team’s active leader in goals with 55 and he is third in the AHL in scoring with 19 points (9-10—19).

Z-Score
Nineteen-year-old Filip Zadina is on a four-game point streak (3-3—6) – including back-to-back multi-point outings – to match his season high from Oct. 25-Nov. 2. He shows points in eight of the last 10 contests and places third on the club in scoring (6-5—11).

Back Up, Terr
Chris Terry leads the AHL in points (24) while pacing the Griffins in assists (15) and multi-point games (8) and tying for the team lead in goals (9). He has found the scoresheet in 10 of the last 11 games, accumulating 18 points (7-11—18) in that stretch. In his 11th-year pro, Terry led the Griffins with 61 points last season and the most recent player to lead GR in scoring in back-to-back seasons was Andy Miele in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Apple Seider
With Joe Hicketts on recall with Detroit, rookie Moritz Seider is the team’s top point-producing defenseman with eight points (0-8—8). Seider, who ties for the second-youngest player in the AHL this season, ties for fourth among AHL rookie defensemen in scoring.

Pick-ing His Shots
Calvin Pickard is on a season-high three game winning streak, boasting a 1.67 GAA and a 0.946 save percentage in that span.

Knowing Our Own Power
The Griffins place third in the AHL in power play efficiency at 27.5% (19-for-69) and have scored in six of the last seven games, finished 9-for-29 in that stretch (31.0%). Grand Rapids has netted two or more PPGs in a single game five times already this season, compared to eight in all of 2018-19. Chris Terry (6-6—12), Matt Puempel (3-6—9) and Filip Zadina (4-2—6) lead the way in power play points. The PP accounts for 33.3% of Grand Rapids’ goals.

November to Remember
Despite a 3-4 start to the month, November has historically been a fruitful one for Grand Rapids as the Griffins have posted a 0.500 record or better in the month 17 times in franchise history. Since the 2012-13 season, Grand Rapids has tallied a combined 54-21-1-5 (0.704) record in the 11th month of the year.

First Things First
Grand Rapids’ roster currently features five recent Detroit first-round draft picks (Moritz Seider 2019, Filip Zadina 2018, Joe Veleno 2018, Michael Rasmussen 2017, Evgeny Svechnikov 2015). Five of the Red Wings’ last six first rounders are on the west side of the state, with the exception being Dennis Cholowski (2016), who made Detroit’s roster following training camp. From 2002-15, the Griffins had only seven Detroit first rounders total suit up for them: Jakub Kindl (2005-11; 14-15), Niklas Kronwall (2003-06), Dylan Larkin (2015 playoffs only), Anthony Mantha (2014-15), Tom McCollum (2009-15), Riley Sheahan (2011-14) and Brendan Smith (2010-13). The Griffins’ opening night lineup had five Detroit first rounders in it, far surpassing the previous record of two. The Griffins had never seen more than three Red Wings first rounders suit up for the club at any point in the same season until this year. Adding in Matt Puempel (24th overall by Ottawa in 2011), Grand Rapids’ roster boasts six former first-round draft selections.

Griffins in General
Grand Rapids is in the franchise’s 24th overall season of play, 19th as a member of the American Hockey League and 18th as the primary affiliate of the 11-time Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings…Grand Rapids is 973-662-27-59-113 (0.585) in the regular season since 1996-97 to go along with 17 playoff appearances, seven division titles and two Calder Cups (2017, 2013)…The Griffins have earned 40 or more wins and accumulated 90 or more points in six of the last seven seasons…Grand Rapids has qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs in a franchise-record seven consecutive seasons and advanced to at least the second round on five occasions…The Griffins’ 8-5 season-opening win at Chicago on Oct. 5 marked the club’s 750th win in the AHL…Grand Rapids’ 313 regular season wins since the 2012-13 campaign tie Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for second behind Toronto’s 325 and the Griffins’ 679 points in that span are third, trailing Providence (680) and Toronto (706)…Since the affiliation began in 2002-03, 90 Griffins have gone on to play for the Red Wings.

This Date in Griffins History
2001: Defenseman Travis Richards, Grand Rapids' all-time leader in games played, suits up for his 400th regular season contest in a Griffins uniform, becoming only the third active AHL player to reach that milestone with his current team. Grand Rapids loses 1-0 to Milwaukee.
2002: Before a near-capacity crowd at Van Andel Arena, the Griffins extend their unbeaten streak to a franchise record-tying nine games (7-0-2-0), earning a 3-2 win over Milwaukee. Marc Lamothe inks his name in the Griffins’ record books for the second straight night, surpassing the team record for longest shutout streak by an individual goaltender. His run is snapped at 153:58, exactly 70 seconds longer than Jani Hurme’s previous mark from the 1999-00 campaign.
2004: In front of a student-dominated crowd of 5,515 in attendance for the team’s fourth annual matinee game, the Griffins come from behind in the third period to steal a 2-1 victory over Cincinnati. Danton Cole earns his record 100th win as the team’s head coach.
2012: Gustav Nyquist’s overtime goal caps the Griffins’ rally from a 3-0 deficit and lifts the visitors to a 6-5 win at Lake Erie. Tomas Jurco scores twice within nine seconds in the third period – two seconds off the franchise record for fastest consecutive goals – to give Grand Rapids its first lead, and Petr Mrazek improves to 5-0 to tie the best start by any Griffins goaltender.
2018: Chris Terry scores seven seconds after the opening faceoff, marking the fastest Grand Rapids goal ever to start either a game or a period, but Ontario goes on to take a 4-3 win at Van Andel Arena in the first-ever clash between the two teams.

Photo by Sam Iannamico/Griffins