Griffins Game #21 * Home Game #11 * AHL Game #327

Season Series: 1-1-0-0 Home Series: 0-0-0-0 Road Series: 1-1-0-0
All-Time Series: 41-19-4-2 All-Time Home Series: 20-7-3-2 All-Time Road Series: 21-12-1-0

Wild at Griffins
Third of 10 meetings overall, first of five at Van Andel Arena…The Griffins are 17-15-4-0 overall since the 2017-18 seasons against the Wild but have been outscored by Iowa 119-107...Grand Rapids is 9-4-3-1 at home against Iowa since the 2017-18 season with an even scoring margin (48-48)...The Griffins have points in eight of the last nine meetings at the Van (6-1-2-0)...The Griffins have points in eight of the last 12 overall meetings (7-4-1-0) against the Wild...The Wild are 7-3-1-0 on the road this season while Grand Rapids is 4-5-1-0 in West Michigan...Iowa is 5-4-1-0 in its last 10 outings and the Griffins are 3-6-1-0 in their last 10...The last time the Griffins had a losing record against Iowa in West Michigan was in 2018-19 (0-1-1-1)...2017 Calder Cup champion with the Griffins, Joe Hicketts (2016-21) is in his final year of a two-year contract with the Minnesota Wild...Former Griffin Patrick Curry (2020-22) signed with the Iowa Wild this past offseason...Wild forward Mitchell Chaffee grew up 20 minutes north of Grand Rapids in Rockford, Mich., and played a season of youth hockey with the Michigan Nationals 18U AAA team located in Bryon Center, Mich., which is 10 miles south of Grand Rapids.

Last Time Out
Five goals by the Texas Stars in the opening stanza were too much for the Griffins to overcome in a 6-3 loss at Van Andel Arena on Saturday. Trenton Bliss scored the first goal for the Griffins, the first AHL tally of his career. Recording assists on two of Grand Rapids’ goals tonight, Chase Pearson now has three apples in four games this season. Taro Hirose competed in his 200th game as a pro and recorded the fastest goal to start a period this season for the Griffins (:22, 1st period). Jared McIsaac joined Hirose with his 100th game as a Griffin and in the AHL.

Roster Shake Up
- Nov. 26—F Alex Chiasson signed to a PTO by Grand Rapids
- Nov. 29—F Trenton Bliss recalled by Grand Rapids
- Dec. 1—G Magnus Hellberg assigned by Detroit on a conditioning loan; F Austin Czarnik recalled by Detroit
- Dec. 2—D Donovan Sebrango and D Eemil Viro reassigned to Toledo by Detroit
- Dec. 6—F Lukas Craggs and F Gordie Green signed to PTOs by Grand Rapids; F Kirill Tyutyayev reassigned to Toledo by Grand Rapids

This Date in Griffins History
2012: The Griffins skate to their sixth straight road victory and improve to 8-2 away from home with a convincing 3-0 win at Chicago, as Tom McCollum records a shutout on his 23rd birthday.

O Captain! My Captain!
Captain Brian Lashoff is just three games away from 600 as a Griffin, as his 597 games played for the Griffins rank first among active AHL players who have spent their entire AHL career with the same club and fourth in league history among one-team players. Of the players ahead of him on that list, the most recent – and, coincidentally, the record-holder – last played during the 1970-71 season (Bill Needham of the Cleveland Barons, 981 games played). Lashoff overtook Paul Larivee (Providence Reds, 1952-62) for the No. 4 spot on April 6, 2022 against Cleveland and is now 11 games behind No. 3 Howie Yanosik (Hershey Bears, 1957-67). Lashoff is still 58 games away from breaking the Griffins’ all-time regular-season games played record, held by Travis Richards with 655 games (1995-2006).

New Additions
On Tuesday, Dec. 6, Grand Rapids signed Toledo Walleye (ECHL) forwards Lukas Craggs and Gordie Green to professional tryouts. Craggs has 11 points (5-6—11) in 54 AHL career games with Milwaukee (2019-20), Chicago (2020-21) and Rochester (2021-22) while Green has notched two points (1-1—2) in 15 AHL appearances with Toronto. On Nov. 26, the Griffins signed NHL veteran Alex Chiasson (SHAY-sahn) to a professional tryout. The 32-year-old spent 10 seasons in the National Hockey League and recorded 224 points (114-110—224) and 353 penalty minutes. On Dec. 1, the Detroit Red Wings assigned goaltender Magnus Hellberg to the Griffins on a conditioning loan. On Dec. 2, Hellberg became the fifth Red Wings goalie to make his Griffins debut during a conditioning stint, joining Curtis Joseph (2003-04), Chris Osgood (2005-06), Manny Legace (2005-06) and Jonas Gustavsson (2012-13).

Problems at Home
The Griffins will wrap up their five-game home stand on Wednesday against the Iowa Wild, their second-longest home stretch this season. Grand Rapids split the home series against Manitoba to begin the run and dropped both contests against the Texas Stars last weekend. The Griffins are 4-5-1-0 (0.450) this campaign at Van Andel Arena but have been outscored 39-29. In comparison, Grand Rapids is 4-6-0-0 (0.400) on foreign ice with a -14 scoring margin (44-30).

Pontus Pilot
After a slow start that saw him tally one point (0-1—1) in the first seven games, Pontus Andreasson has been among the driving forces of the Griffins’ offense of late. Andreasson enjoyed a four-game point streak (3-2—5) from Nov. 18-26 and has 13 points in the last 12 outings (6-7—13). The Munkedal, Sweden, native bagged his first goal in North America on Nov. 11 against Toronto to conclude a three-point contest (2-1—3). In 2021-22 in the Swedish Hockey League, Andreasson finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting when he totaled 38 points (18-20—38) in 52 games. The 24-year-old signed a one-year contract with Detroit this past offseason.

Bobbing for Apples
Taro Hirose collected his first pro hat trick on Nov. 18 at San Diego, which concluded his career-high four-point (3-1—4) night. Hirose has been known for his passing abilities throughout four seasons with the Griffins. In fact, the former Michigan State Spartan has had at least 22 assists in each full AHL campaign in his career. This season has a similar pace, as Hirose has totaled a team-leading 13 helpers in 20 games and his nine power-play assists are tied for seventh in the AHL. Hirose saw his five-game point streak (1-5—6) come to an end on Nov. 5 but has points in 13 of the 20 contests this season (6-13—19).

Welcome Back
After missing the first 16 games of the season due to personal reasons, Chase Pearson has stormed back onto the scene with three assists and a plus-two rating in his first four outings of the campaign. Through 151 AHL games, the fourth-year pro has 67 points (25-42—67) and 41 penalty minutes. Pearson was selected with the 140th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by Detroit and made his NHL debut on March 24, 2022 against the New York Islanders.

Take the Over
The Griffins averaged just 2.75 goals a game during the 2021-22 season while giving up 3.16. However, Grand Rapids is averaging 2.95 goals this season while conceding 4.15. Twelve of its 20 games so far have had seven or more total goals scored, with seven of those contests having eight or more tallies. The Griffins rank third to last on the circuit with 83 goals against while their 59 goals for are tied for 22nd.

AHL Leaderboard Tracker
Pontus Andreasson—Three power-play goals are tied for seventh among rookies
Cross Hanas—Seven goals are tied for seventh among rookies
Taro Hirose—Nine power-play assists are tied for seventh
Joel L’Esperance—Five power-play goals are tied for sixth

Milestones
Taro Hirose recorded a goal in his 200th game as a pro while Jared McIsaac joined him in his 100th game as a Griffin and in the AHL on Dec. 3 against Texas.
Alex Chiasson—Three games from 700 as a pro
Taro Hirose—Four assists from 100 as a Griffin and in the AHL, three points from 150 as a pro
Brian Lashoff—Three games from 600 as a Griffin and in the AHL
Kirill Tyutyayev—Three games from 100 as a pro

Photo by Tim Garland/Wild