This Week’s Games

GRIFFINS vs. Iowa Wild // Wed., Dec. 7 // 7 p.m. // Van Andel Arena

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: 1-1-0-0 Overall, 0-0-0-0 Home. Third of 10 meetings overall, first of five at Van Andel Arena

All-Time Series: 41-19-4-2 Overall, 20-7-3-2 Home

NHL Affiliation: Minnesota Wild

Noteworthy: Rockford, Mich., native Mitchell Chaffee remains with the Minnesota Wild organization. Chaffee played his AAA youth hockey with the Michigan Nationals in Byron Center and with HoneyBaked in Detroit. Through 87 AHL games, Chaffee has 63 points (30-33—63) and 38 penalty minutes.

Promotions: Winning Wednesday presented by Michigan First Credit Union

GRIFFINS at Springfield Thunderbirds // Fri., Dec. 9 // 7:05 p.m. // MassMutual Center

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: First of two meetings overall, first of one at the MassMutual Center

All-Time Series: First-ever meeting

NHL Affiliation: St. Louis Blues

Noteworthy: The Griffins have never competed against a team from Springfield. However, the Griffins are 51-44-7-3 all time against previous St. Louis Blues affiliates (Peoria 21-26-5-2; San Antonio 7-7-0-1; Chicago 23-11-2-0).

GRIFFINS at Hartford Wolf Pack // Sat., Dec. 10 // 7 p.m. // XL Center

Listen: WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 6:45 p.m.

Watch: AHLTV

Season Series: First of two meetings overall, first of one at the XL Center

All-Time Series: 1-1-0-0 Overall, 0-1-0-0 Away

NHL Affiliation: New York Rangers

Noteworthy: Hartford’s general manager is former Griffins GM Ryan Martin. Former Griffins Turner Elson (2017-22) and Blake Hillman (2019-20; 2021-22) are featured on Hartford’s roster. Elson totaled 144 points (61-83—144) in 294 games with Grand Rapids, while Hillman bagged three assists in 15 contests. This will be the first meeting between the two franchises since Nov. 14, 2008.

Last Week’s Results
Fri., Dec. 2 // GRIFFINS 1 vs. Texas 4 // 8-10-1-0 (17 pts., 0.447, 6th Central)
Sat., Dec. 3 // GRIFFINS 3 vs. Texas 6 // 8-11-1-0 (17 pts., 0.425, 6th Central)

Last Week’s Notes
Friday vs. Texas (1-4 L) - The Stars used three goals in the third frame to secure a 4-1 win against the Griffins at Van Andel Arena. Magnus Hellberg made his Griffins debut, notching 34 saves in his first AHL game since April 12, 2017 with the Hartford Wolf Pack. Kyle Criscuolo scored the lone goal for Grand Rapids, his third of the season and his second in the last three games. Recap | Highlights

Saturday vs. Texas (3-6 L) - Five goals by the Stars in the opening stanza were too much for the Griffins to overcome in a 6-3 loss at Van Andel Arena. 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. Recap | Highlights

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).

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).

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 21st.

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