FRIDAY, MAY 14, 2021 – ROCKET MORTGAGE FIELDHOUSE at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS (15-11-3-1) at CLEVELAND MONSTERS (15-9-1-2) Griffins Game #31 * Road Game #16 * AHL Game #373 RECORDS Season Series: 6-2-0-0 Home Series: 3-1-0-0 Road Series: 3-1-0-0 All-Time Series: 60-33-5-10 All-Time Home Series: 34-17-1-2 All-Time Road Series: 26-16-4-8 Griffins at Monsters Ninth of 10 meetings overall, fifth of five at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse…Grand Rapids and Cleveland finish out the season with a home-and- home set that concludes tomorrow at Van Andel Arena...For what it’s worth, the Griffins can leap-frog the Monsters in the Central Division stand- ings and finish in second place by sweeping these two games, with at least one of the victories being in regulation...Grand Rapids earned its first shutout of the season in 2-0 fashion in this building on Tuesday, improving to 6-2 in the season series...Against all other foes this season, the Monsters are 13-4-0-2 and the Griffins are 9-9-3-1...Riley Barber (5-4—9) is averaging a point per game versus the Monsters...In three games against Cleveland, Kaden Fulcher is 2-1 with a 1.34 GAA, a 0.953 save percentage and one shutout...Pat Nagle has played the other five games in the series, going 4-1 with a 2.21 GAA and a 0.912 save percentage...Cleveland ranks third in the AHL in both goals (3.48 pg, tied) and power play (25.7%)...The Monsters had gone 7-for-17 (41.2%) with the man-advantage over four games against the Griffins before a 0-for-3 performance on Tuesday…Grand Rapids and Cleveland are Central Division foes for the first time since 2017-18, following the Monsters’ two-year foray into the North Division and Eastern Conference...These teams split a four-game series in 2019-20, with each winning and losing once on the other’s ice...Griffins head coach Ben Simon is a native of the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights. Busy Bodies After playing just 16 games overall and only four times at home during the first 70 days of this season – owing to both a light early schedule and six postponements since March 16 – the Griffins on April 16 began a brutal stretch of playing their final 16 games and 12 home contests over a span of only 30 days. Grand Rapids tonight plays its fifth game in the last eight days and its 11th game in the last 19 days. Last Time Out One night after registering their first shutout of the season, the Griffins suffered their first blanking on Wednesday in a 7-0 loss to Chicago at Van Andel Arena. Chicago only led 2-0 through 39 minutes and 57 seconds of play before a late second-period tally opened the door to a four-goal third for the Wolves, who used a hat trick by David Cotton and 35 saves by rookie Beck Warm to clinch the Central Division crown. Grand Rapids suffered its second 7-0 defeat in 25 seasons (Jan. 3, 2004 at Milwaukee) and its worst shutout ever on home ice, following a trio of 6-0 losses (most recently April 8, 2011 vs. Abbotsford). The seven-goal margin of defeat tied the Griffins’ records both overall and at home. It happened at Van Andel Arena on Nov. 14, 2006 (8-1 loss to Milwaukee) and twice earlier on the road. Another First for Fulcher Tuesday’s 22-save shutout at Cleveland, Kaden Fulcher’s first AHL whitewash, was the latest in his line of firsts this season. On April 17, he made his AHL debut and played his first game in more than 15 months, due to an injury that ended his 2019-20 season, the pandemic, and bouncing between the Griffins and Detroit's taxi squad this season. His last game had been on Jan. 4, 2020, when he made 24 saves for the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye in a 5-2 home loss to Indy. Fulcher made 25 saves in that 4-3 overtime loss to Iowa, including 12 during the third period to help the Grif- fins rally from a two-goal deficit and earn a point. On April 21, he earned his first victory in the AHL and first at any level in more than two years, 2- 1 over Cleveland. Fulcher, who was limited to two ECHL games last season due to an injury, made 27 saves in his second career AHL contest, logging his first win since making 27 stops in Toledo’s 5-0 home triumph over Indy on March 3, 2019. That Was Close The Griffins on Tuesday avoided what could have been their first-ever season – albeit a shortened one – without registering a shutout. Grand Rap- ids logged a franchise record-low one shutout during the 2009-10 campaign. This Date in Griffins History 2015: Tyler Bertuzzi scores his second goal of the night 13 seconds into overtime to lift the Griffins to a 2-1 win at Rockford and a commanding 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals. The fastest playoff OT goal in franchise history gives Bertuzzi five goals and three game-winners in just seven playoff games. Tom McCollum finishes with 27 saves and improves to 6-2 on the postseason. Welcome Back With the end of the Detroit Red Wings’ season, goalie Kaden Fulcher and forwards Givani Smith and Joe Veleno were reassigned to the Griffins from the taxi squad last Saturday night. Goalie Calvin Pickard was subsequently assigned to Grand Rapids on Monday after clearing waivers. Life of Riley Riley Barber has registered points in six of the last nine games (4-6—10) and in 22 of 30 contests this season. His 18 goals are second in the league — three behind Bakersfield’s Cooper Marony, who has played in seven more games — his 32 points (18-14—32) tie for 10th and his 15 power play points pace the circuit. Barber’s projected numbers over a normal 76-game season would be 46 goals and 81 points; in franchise histo- ry, only Donald MacLean (56 during his MVP 2005-06 season) and Michel Picard (46 in 1996-97) have scored as many goals while only eight play- ers have registered as many points. He posted a nine-game point streak from Feb. 5-March 11 that was the longest ever to start a player's Griffins career as well as the longest from the start of a Griffins season. High-Flying Griffins Chase Pearson has seven points (2-5—7) in his last eight games...Second on the Griffins in scoring with 25 points (5-20—25) in 26 games, Taro Hirose has points in five of eight contests (1-6—7) and 11 of the last 16 games (2-11—13)…Turner Elson has points in eight of the last 14 games (2-7—9). Youth is Served On April 29 against Chicago, the Griffins had four rookie defensemen in their lineup – Charle-Edouard D’Astous, Tory Dello, Jared McIsaac and Donovan Sebrango – for the first time in more than four years, dating to a 5-1 win at Milwaukee on April 15, 2017 when five first-year blueliners took to the ice: Hicketts, Dennis Cholowski, Filip Hronek, Patrick McCarron and Dan Renouf. Grand Rapids has now had four rookie D in the lineup during each of its last eight games, with Patrick Holway and Seth Barton making their pro debuts during that stretch. Congrats Are in Order Joe Veleno made his NHL debut with the Detroit Red Wings on April 27 in their 1-0 shootout loss at Columbus, logging two shots and winning 57% (4 of 7) of his faceoffs in 14:59 of ice time. He became the 185th Griffins alum to play in the NHL, after recording 23 points (11-12—23) in 54 games with Grand Rapids last season. Veleno, who last Friday tallied his first NHL goal during a power play to begin a rally from a 0-2 deficit in Detroit’s 5-2 victory at Columbus, played five games with Detroit, totaling one goal, eight shots and four penalty minutes while winning 50% of his faceoffs. Rarified Air Brian Lashoff’s 513 games played for the Griffins rank first among active AHL players who have spent their entire AHL career with the same club and tie for eighth 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, who has been unfit to play the last 17 games, tied No. 8-ranked Stan Smrke (Rochester 1957-67) on March 26 and is now four games behind No. 7 Pete Kapusta (Providence Reds 1946-55). Powerful Play Following a 2019-20 campaign in which they finished sixth in the AHL’s power play rankings at 20.9%, the Griffins have been nearly as good this season, currently standing sixth in the league at 20.4% and third on the road at 28.1%. Their home power play, however, ranks 26th, having con- verted 12.5% of its chances. Offense Taken The Griffins have scored more than three goals just once in their last 11 games (5-4 win versus Chicago on May 7).