Griffins Game #23 * Road Game #11 * AHL Game #326

Season Series: 2-1-0-0 Home Series: 1-0-0-0 Road Series: 1-1-0-0
All-Time Series: 45-33-7-8 All-Time Home Series: 30-11-3-2 All-Time Road Series: 15-22-4-6

Griffins at IceHogs
Fourth of 10 meetings overall, third of five at the BMO Harris Bank Center…Grand Rapids won the first two meetings of the season before Rockford picked up its first victory on Nov. 16 in Illinois…In the last matchup on Nov. 16, Evgeny Svechnikov recorded his first two-goal game since Dec. 31, 2017 and the Griffins fired a season-high 44 shots…As a member of the Griffins, Matt Puempel has 18 points (8-10—18) in 19 GP against the IceHogs...Since the 2016-17 season, the home team in the series has posted a 23-8-2-0 record (0.727)…Dating to April 1, 2017, Grand Rapids has points in seven of its last 13 games at Rockford (2-6-2-3)…Grand Rapids has points in nine of the last 10 meetings at Van Andel Arena (7-1-2-0)…In the last 10 overall, the Griffins are 4-3-3-0…In the first encounter 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)…Grand Rapids’ penalty kill is 9-for-10 against Rockford this season…Chris Terry leads the Griffins with four points (1-3—4 in 3 GP) in the series…Rookie Jarid Lukosevicius scored his first pro goal at Rockford in the initial matchup and two of his four tallies have come against the ‘Hogs…Alec McCrea tallied an assist while making his AHL debut against Rockford on Nov. 15…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): Moose 4 at Griffins 2 - Recap
Chris Terry and Dominic Turgeon both have goals in back-to-back games...Grand Rapids finished 1-for-4 on the power play, 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and outshot Manitoba 28-24…Pat Nagle, recalled from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye on Thanksgiving, stopped all seven shots he faced in a relief effort...Nagle has made four career appearances with the Griffins and nine in the AHL...The Moose have won the last three in the series after Grand Rapids won the first matchup...Captain Matt Ford skated in his 200th game as a Griffin...Givani Smith returned to the Griffins lineup after missing the last seven games (three due to injury, four while on recall with Detroit)...Over 2,000 teddy bears were tossed onto the ice after the first Griffins goal and all will be donated to Hug-A-Bears of Kent County.

Status Update
The Griffins have their sights set on ending a four-game losing streak when they make their second trip of the week to the Land of Lincoln to square off against the Rockford IceHogs tonight. Grand Rapids is two games below the 0.500 mark for the first time since opening last season 3-5-0-1 through Nov. 2 before earning victories on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4 to get back to even ground. The last time the Griffins were below 0.500 at the end of November was the 2017-18 campaign (8-10-0-2). Keep in mind, Grand Rapids has made the Calder Cup Playoffs in a franchise-record seven consecutive seasons. The Griffins are back home for two games next week, facing Chicago on Wednesday and Rockford on Friday.

Adding to the List
Recalled on Thanksgiving, goaltender Calvin Pickard became the 181st Griffins alumnus to play in the NHL when he made his Detroit debut yesterday in the team’s 6-1 loss at Philadelphia. He recorded 29 saves. A second-round selection in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft by the Colorado Avalanche, Pickard has logged 105 NHL games since 2014-15 with Colorado, Toronto, Philadelphia, Arizona and Detroit.

Back Up, Terr
Chris Terry has goals in both games this week and is the AHL leader in points (27) while pacing the Griffins in goals (11), assists (16), multi-point games (9) and power play goals (7). He has accumulated 21 points (9-12—21) in the last 17 games. 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.

November Notes
Grand Rapids concludes its 14-game November tonight. So far in the month, Chris Terry leads the team in points (7-8—15 in 13 GP), goals and assists. The Red Wings have recalled or assigned a player from or to Grand Rapids a total of 15 times this month. A total of 24 skaters have suited up for the Griffins in the month, marking the highest number of players to see action in the last 15 Novembers. (The next closest is Nov. 2011 with 23 players.)

Puzzle Pieces
The Griffins have recently been missing several key components that were on the team’s opening night roster:
Dylan McIlrath (0-3—3 in 10 GP) – on recall with Detroit since Nov. 5, missed last 11 games
Matt Puempel (9-10—19 in 17 GP) – missed last five due to injury
Michael Rasmussen (2-7—9 in 10 GP) – missed last seven due to injury
Filip Zadina (7-6—13 in 19 GP) – on recall with Detroit since Nov. 24, missed last two

Apple Seider
Moritz Seider (1-10—11) ties Joe Hicketts (0-11—11) as the team’s top scoring defenseman while also tying for fourth among rookie AHL blueliners in points. Born April 6, 2001, Seider ties Ontario’s Tobias Bjornfot for the second-youngest player in the AHL this season. Only Bridgeport’s Simon Holmstrom (May 24, 2001) is younger.

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 974-667-27-59-113 (0.583) 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’ 314 regular season wins since the 2012-13 campaign are third behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 316 and Toronto’s 331 while the Griffins’ 681 points in that span are fourth, trailing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (684), Providence (687) and Toronto (718)...Since the affiliation began in 2002-03, 91 Griffins have gone on to play for the Red Wings.

This Date in Griffins History
2002: Grand Rapids loses 2-1 in overtime at Chicago but completes its first-ever calendar month without a regulation defeat (9-0-3-2).
2003: Marc Lamothe makes 35 saves to lead the Griffins to a 2-0 win at Cincinnati and become the first goalie in franchise history to record consecutive road shutouts. Grand Rapids kills off all six Ducks power plays, setting a team record by holding the opposition without a power play goal for the seventh straight game, a streak that would eventually end at nine.
2013: Behind two goals by Patrick Eaves and 33 saves from Tom McCollum, the Griffins roll to their fifth straight win overall and their sixth in a row at home, a 5-1 thrashing of Texas. Grand Rapids shows its dominance on both ends of the ice, scoring at least five goals for the sixth consecutive home game while limiting its opponent to no more than a single goal for the fourth time in its last five outings.
2018: The Griffins ride a 3-for-6 effort on the power play and what will prove to be a season-best 7-for-7 performance on the penalty kill to a 4-3 victory over San Antonio.

Back-to-Back
This weekend marks the eighth of 25 times total this season the Griffins will play on consecutive nights.

Win Some, Lose Some
Compare the statistics between the Griffins’ nine wins and 13 (including OT and SO) losses:

Photo by Sam Iannamico/Griffins