Griffins Continue Road Trip in Texas
October 25, 2022 – American Hockey League (AHL) – Grand Rapids Griffins News Release
Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Texas Stars
(Grand Rapids Griffins, Credit: Mark Newman/Griffins)
This Week’s Games
GRIFFINS at Texas Stars // Sat., Oct. 29 // 8 p.m. EDT // H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
GRIFFINS at Texas Stars // Sun., Oct. 30 // 6 p.m. EDT // H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
Listen: 96.1 The Game at 7:45 p.m. on Saturday, WOOD 106.9 FM/1300 AM at 5:45 p.m. on Sunday
Watch: AHLTV
Season Series: First and second of eight meetings overall, first and second of four at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park
All-Time Series: 35-22-4-4 Overall, 16-13-3-1 Away
NHL Affiliation: Dallas Stars
Noteworthy: Former Stars forward Joel L’Esperance will make his first trip back to Texas in a Griffins uniform. L’Esperance notched 136 points (80-56-136) in 183 games with Texas from 2017-22. Former Griffin Riley Barber joined the Stars this past offseason after competing with Grand Rapids from 2020-22, compiling 87 points (48-39-87) in 81 contests.
Last Week’s Results
Wed., Oct. 19 // GRIFFINS 3 vs. Milwaukee 2 // 2-1-0-0 (4 pts., 0.667, 1st Central)
Sat., Oct. 22 // GRIFFINS 1 at Toronto 4 // 2-2-0-0 (4 pts., 0.500, 3rd Central)
Sun., Oct. 23 // GRIFFINS 5 at Toronto 2 // 3-2-0-0 (6 pts., 0.600, T2nd Central)
Last Week’s Notes
Wednesday vs. Milwaukee (3-2 W) – In his professional debut, netminder Sebastian Cossa collected 21 saves while the Griffins anchored the Milwaukee Admirals to secure a 3-2 win at Van Andel Arena. The former first-round selection became the seventh rookie goaltender in Griffins history to win his debut. Austin Czarnik continued his hot streak with another goal, which put him at four tallies in three contests. Taro Hirose (1-1-2) and Matt Luff (0-2-2) each contributed with two-point outings, while Kirill Tyutyayev notched the game-winner. Ben Simon appeared in his 250th game as the Griffins’ head coach and improved to 118-102-19-11 (0.532) all time with Grand Rapids. Recap | Highlights
Saturday at Toronto (1-4 L) – The Griffins dropped the opener of an eight-game road trip to the Toronto Marlies 4-1 at the Coca-Cola Coliseum. Toronto’s two quick goals in the opening 11:22 of play ultimately made the difference. Cross Hanas notched the lone goal for Grand Rapids, the second of his rookie season and his third point in four games. The Griffins dropped to 15-12-2-0 all time in road openers. Recap | Highlights
Sunday at Toronto (5-2 W) – Three Griffins amassed multi-point outings, as Grand Rapids bounced back in game two against the Toronto Marlies with a 5-2 win at the Coca-Cola Coliseum. Despite missing all but nine games a year ago, Kirill Tyutyayev has gotten off to a blazing start this season. Tyutyayev’s hustle plays created two scores for the Griffins on Sunday, upping himself to four points (2-2-4) in as many games. Regardless of a mid-frame goalie change in the first, Grand Rapids held the Marlies to just two goals on 36 shots in the Griffins’ second contest of an eight-game road trip. Matt Luff (1-1-2), Taro Hirose (0-2-2) and Tyutyayev (0-2-2) all paced Grand Rapids in the contest. Donovan Sebrango and Dominik Shine each tallied their first goals of the season. Albert Johansson skated in his 150th game as a pro. Recap | Highlights
Rookie Sensations: Rookies Simon Edvinsson, Cross Hanas and Kirill Tyutyayev have gotten off to a fast start to begin the campaign. All three are tied for sixth in the AHL among rookies with four points. Hanas is also tied for fourth among rookies with three goals in five games. After totaling three assists in nine games a year ago, Tyutyayev now has two goals and two helpers in his first four games of the campaign. The Yekaterinburg, Russia, native scored a goal in consecutive games from Oct. 15-19, then tacked on two helpers on Oct. 23 at Toronto. Edvinsson is tied for fourth among rookies with three assists. The defenseman recorded an assist in his AHL debut and followed that performance with three points (1-2-3) on Oct. 15, which included his first goal in North America.
A Welcome Sight: The Griffins struggled out of the gate in 2020-21, as the team stood at 1-3-0-1 after five games, having been held to two shutouts and just 11 goals scored. In 2022-23, Grand Rapids has looked much improved with a 3-2-0-0 record and 19 total goals, which includes three games with three or more tallies. The Griffins struggled to score a campaign ago, but this season has already seen an eight-goal performance on Oct. 15 (8-5 W vs. San Diego), which was tied for the fifth-highest scoring home game in franchise history.
Road Trip!: So far, Grand Rapids is 1-1-0-0 in its eight-game road trip with stops in Texas, Iowa, Rockford and Cleveland yet to come. The eight-game journey is the longest in franchise history during the first two months of a season, beating out a five-game trip in November of 2017.
Matty Ice: The Detroit Red Wings this past offseason signed sixth-year pro Matt Luff to a one-year contract. After totaling 31 points in 30 games with Milwaukee a season ago, Luff picked up right where he left off, as he has seven points (3-4-7) in five games to begin his career in Grand Rapids. Luff is tied for the team lead in points and tied for sixth in the AHL. The Windsor, Ontario, native has three two-point outings in the first five contests and has been held off the scoresheet just once.
Preseason Acquisitions: The Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins had a fruitful offseason that brought in free-agent forwards Pontus Andreasson, Austin Czarnik, Cedric Lacroix, Joel L’Esperance and Matt Luff, and defenseman Steven Kampfer. Every offseason signing has at least one point for the Griffins through five games. Czarnik, Kampfer, L’Esperance and Luff all have at least three points through the first five games of the season, including seven points for Luff and Czarnik. New players on the team, including rookies, have accounted for 30 of the 51 points by Grand Rapids this campaign.
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