Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
Cut the regular season any which way, and the Grand Rapids Griffins probably set some kind of record.
Their 23-1-0-1 start marked the best 25-game start in AHL history. After 36 games, midway through the season, they hold a 30-3-2-1 record. The 40 game mark? They sit at 32-5-2-1. In 50 games, it was 40-7-2-1. They have won 15 games, the sixth longest in the league’s 90 seasons.
They clinched a Calder Cup Playoff berth on March 6, the first team to do so since the 1992-93 powerhouse Binghamton Rangers.
Further, the ratings went up. A few late-season stumbles slowed the record-breaking pace, but the Griffins still finished second in the AHL with a 51-16-4-1 record, a .743 hitting percentage that breaks the list of the top 10 best records in league history.
But it’s been an unpredictable spring throughout the AHL, and Grand Rapids has been tough in it. They lost Game 1 of their divisional semifinal series against Manitoba before winning three times to take the series. And now, thanks to Chicago’s two wins at Van Andel Arena last week, the Griffins — who are the only division champion left in the field after Providence, Laval and Ontario were all eliminated in the previous round — face elimination from the division finals.
In Game 1, Grand Rapids and Chicago went into the third period tied before the Wolves captain Josiah SlavinThe goal gave the visitors a 2-1 win. Game 2 proved to be more difficult for the Griffins, who needed 4 minutes and 8 seconds to take a 2-0 lead. But Chicago rallied and won, 4-3 in overtime, on and on Felix Unger SörumSecond goal of the night.
That was Saturday. Since then, the Griffins have had time to eat, digest and move on. It’s been a busy spring for the Detroit Red Wings organization after the parent club missed out on the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a frustrating recent slide. Now Grand Rapids’ championship run hopes are in jeopardy again.
Michal Postava made all six starts in net this offseason for the Griffins, but when the head coach Dan Watson they want to make the change they have Sebastian CossaDetroit’s first-round pick and two-time AHL All-Star, set. Together, Cossa and Postava combined to win the Hap Holmes Memorial Award as the Griffins allowed just 159 goals in the regular season, the fewest in the AHL.
Watson cited Postava’s excellent regular season play as the reason he was named their Game 1 starter, and there was no reason to waver. Postava led HC Kometa Brno to the Czech league championship last season before signing with Detroit, and has a 1.82 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in these playoffs in Grand Rapids.
Fourteen teams have lost the first two games in the five-game series and rallied to win it. Grand Rapids could look for one of these updates, knocking out Toronto in 2015. But only four teams have won after dropping their first two at home, including Milwaukee last spring against Rockford. There are no obvious reasons for the Griffins’ problem. The power play is hitting 33.3 percent (6-for-18). They have allowed just three power play goals in six games. At 2.50 goals per game, the Griffins are well off their regular season pace (3.54). But this is the postseason, when the defensive game is tougher and the coaching staffs have a whole series to take apart opposing offenses.
But losing leads won’t happen in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Grand Rapids was 38-3-1-0 in the regular season when they scored the first goal of the game. They are 0-2 in the series.
No one needs reminding of the Griffins. They know that.
“I thought we ran out of fuel when we were in the lead,” the captain said Dominik Shine said after the 2nd game. “We can do the job. I don’t care.”
Game 3 will be a chance to confirm those words. It’s that simple.
In the American Hockey League for two decades, TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams and currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor to SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for the league’s top scorer in 2016.
