Griffins Game #11 * Road Game #6 * AHL Game #166

Season Series: 1-1-0-0 Home Series: 1-0-0-0 Road Series: 0-1-0-0
All-Time Series: 63-31-1-1-7 All-Time Home Series: 33-13-1-1-5 All-Time Road Series: 30-18-0-0-2

Griffins at Moose
Third of eight meetings overall, second of four at Bell MTS Place…The teams will match up again the day after Thanksgiving in West Michigan...In the first meeting of the season on Oct. 25 at Van Andel Arena, Matt Puempel recorded his first AHL hat trick, Joe Veleno banked his first pro goal and Calvin Pickard posted 36 saves in a 4-1 Grand Rapids victory…The Griffins have claimed 12 of the last 15 regular season matchups with a 46-28 scoring margin…Since Manitoba rejoined the AHL in 2015-16, Grand Rapids is 19-7 against the Moose and outscored them 85-56…On away ice in that span, the Griffins are 9-4 with a 38-24 scoring advantage…Dylan McIlrath was born in Winnipeg and Pickard lives there during the offseason...Moose forward Derek Hulak skated in 35 regular season games with the Griffins last season and tallied four points (1-3—4) before showing a goal and an assist in four games during the Central Division Semifinals against Chicago.

Last Game (Saturday): Griffins 3 at Moose 5 - Recap
The Griffins played their first game since long-time video coach Bill LeRoy passed away on Friday in Winnipeg...Manitoba had scored nine goals combined in its last six games against the Griffins before bursting for five...Chris Terry produced a goal and two assists to extend his point streak to five games...Matt Puempel also pushed his point streak to five with his team-high sixth goal of the year...Rookie defenseman Gustav Lindstrom picked up his first North American pro point while assisting on Terry’s power play goal at 4:24 in the first period...With a power play goal at 7:49 in the third period, Filip Zadina has goals in back-to-back games and points in four consecutive.

Status Update
The Griffins had their season-high four-game point streak come to a close with a 5-3 defeat yesterday against Manitoba and place fifth in the Central Division standings with a 5-3-1-1 record (12 points). Grand Rapids finishes up a two-game set at the Moose this afternoon before returning to Van Andel Arena for a three-game homestand starting Wednesday against Cleveland in the team’s annual school day game.

Getting Started
The Griffins’ 12 points through 10 games are their most since accumulating 12 in 10 contests to open the 2016-17 campaign. Grand Rapids has posted a record above the 0.500 mark after 10 games for the 15th time in team history and the Griffins have gone on to advance to the postseason in 11 of those previous occurrences.

Lighting It Up
The Griffins are third in the AHL in power play efficiency at 27.9% (12-for-43) and have scored in seven of 10 games, including four multi-goal outings. In comparison, there were eight instances last season when Grand Rapids netted two or more PPGs in a game. Chris Terry (3-4—7) leads the way in power play points.

Two to Tango
Chris Terry (5-10—15) and Matt Puempel (6-5—11) are the first Griffins teammates with a double-digit point total each through a season’s first 10 games since Gustav Nyquist (13) and Tomas Jurco (12) did so to open 2013-14.

Back Up, Terr
Chris Terry paces the team in points (15), assists (10) and multi-point games (5). Terry’s 15 points through 10 games are the most by a Griffin since right wing Chris Conner accumulated 15 (5-10—15) in the first 10 contests of the 2011-12 season. Conner went on the finish the year with 53 points (16-37—53) to rank fourth on the club. Terry has found the scoresheet in eight of 10 outings. During his current five-game point streak he is averaging nearly two points per game (3-6—9). In his 11th-year pro, Terry led the Griffins with 61 points last season and the most recent player to lead the Griffins in scoring in back-to-back seasons was Andy Miele in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Puemped Up
In his seventh year as a pro and third season as a Griffin, Matt Puempel is the team’s active goal scoring leader with 52 and has amassed eight points (5-3—8) during his season-high five-game point streak.

Time Travel
Historically, the Griffins appear to benefit from the extra hour gained when daylight savings time ends, showing a perfect 6-0 record all time when playing on the date the clocks roll back. Five of those six victories have come on the road. Daylight savings time in 2019 ended earlier today.

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 exceptions 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) and Dylan McIlrath (10th overall by the New York Rangers in 2010), Grand Rapids’ roster boasts seven former first-round draft selections.

This Date in Griffins History
2001: Petr Schastlivy scores twice in a 7-1 win over Manitoba, setting a Griffins record for fastest start with nine goals in the season's first 10 games.
2012: In his AHL debut, Petr Mrazek records 29 saves to help Grand Rapids defeat Texas 4-2 at the Cedar Park Center.
2018: Thanks to Dylan McIlrath’s goal with 3:42 remaining the Griffins defeat Milwaukee 2-1 and hand the Central Division leaders just their second regulation loss in their first 13 games.

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 970-659-27-59-113 (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’ 310 regular season wins since the 2012-13 campaign are second behind Toronto’s 324 and the Griffins’ 673 points in that span are third, trailing Providence (676) and Toronto (704)...Since the affiliation began in 2002-03, 90 Griffins have gone on to play for the Red Wings.

Photo by Jonathan Kozub/Manitoba Moose