Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
The Iowa Wild had their guests right where they wanted them last night.
Two goals from Wild forward Hunter Haight put the visiting Grand Rapids Griffins in a 2-0 hole with less than nine minutes left in the second period. Iowa, still trying to find its collective game following a difficult start to the season, had held the AHL’s top team to just 10 shots on goal through a period and a half.
Incredibly, it was just the third time all season that the Griffins trailed by two goals.
Then the game turned. While so much of this season’s story in Grand Rapids has been the team’s league-best offense, there is much more to the Griffins. Their ability to overwhelm opponents goes far beyond the top line.
With John Leonard and his league-leading 19 goals on recall to Detroit, the Griffins’ offensive response last night began from the back end. Just 1:40 after Iowa took a 2-0 lead, Alex Kannok Leipert one-timed a shot from the left point past Iowa goaltender Samuel Hlavaj. It was the first goal since Apr. 6 and just the sixth in 206 career AHL games for Kannok Leipert, a sturdy defenseman whose main mandate is his reliable – and physical – defensive play.
Ian Mitchell, another steady defenseman, tied the game 4:36 into the third period when he held his ice just inside the blue line before taking the puck into open space and sneaking a long shot through traffic and past Hlavaj.
Then captain Dominik Shine struck at 7:23 to give the Griffins their first lead. He added his second of the period at 17:26, and Gabriel Seger finished the scoring with an empty-netter at 19:31.
The win was Grand Rapids’ 23rd in 25 games this season, the best start in the AHL’s 90-year history. It was another team-wide effort – they surrendered only one power-play opportunity to the Wild, and allowed only one third-period shot on goal while scoring four times in the final 20 minutes. Sebastian Cossa, who saw only 18 shots all night, improved to 13-1-0 with his eighth consecutive win. Eleven different skaters registered a point, with Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, Sheldon Dries and Erik Gustafsson each chipping in a pair of assists.
Riding a 12-game winning streak, the Griffins have already opened up a 16-point lead at the top of the Central Division. Up next is a rematch at Iowa on Friday night followed by a Sunday home date with Cleveland. They close out 2025 with a home-and-home with Milwaukee on Dec. 27 and Dec. 31.
Can the Griffins see this through all the way to April? All the way into June? It’s still early – two-thirds of the regular season remains – but it seems fair to start drawing comparisons between these Griffins and other powerhouse teams in AHL history. The 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers put up a .775 points percentage (57-13-10), the league’s best mark ever. The 2011-12 Norfolk Admirals won 28 games in a row. The Hershey Bears’ 2009-10 team won a record 60 games (in an 80-game season). Just two years ago, Hershey set the standard for a 72-game season with 53 wins and 111 points.
More than a few hurdles are still ahead of Grand Rapids. They still have 19 meetings left with Chicago and Milwaukee, their closest rivals. There’s a February visit to Charlotte – the only team to knock off the Griffins in regulation this season, a 2-1 decision on Nov. 21. Eleven of their final 14 games will be on the road. And of course, there are the usual potential pitfalls like recalls, injuries and plain bad puck luck that can sidetrack any team.
But 25 games in, it’s looking like the Griffins might have something special here.
