Griffins Open March Leading AHL with 41-8-3-1 Record

Grand Rapids opened March at the top of the American Hockey League with a 41-8-3-1 record, a club release dated March 3, 2026 confirmed, and a league-leading 86 points on the season. The Griffins have outscored opponents 184-104 through 53 games, a margin that sits alongside EliteProspects’ season table showing GP 53, W 41, L 8, GF 184 and GA 104.

The Griffins clinched a spot in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs on Feb. 27 when Hershey’s 4-1 victory over the Rockford IceHogs made the math official. TheAHL noted Grand Rapids was the first team to lock up a playoff berth that night, doing so with 20 games and 51 days still remaining in the regular season, and that clinch marked the earliest in franchise history and the earliest for an AHL team since the 1993 Binghamton Rangers.

Offense and special-period play have driven much of Grand Rapids’ dominance. Griffinshockey lists the club at 3.47 goals per game, second in the AHL, and notes the team is 30-0 when scoring the first goal. Home and road scoring splits underline balance: the Griffins have outscored opponents 91-54 at home and 93-50 on the road, with the largest scoring margin coming in the third period at 73-33.

John Leonard leads the attack with 26 goals, tied for third in the AHL, while Dominik Shine has 21 goals and Sheldon Dries is listed third on the roster in scoring. TheAHL framed Grand Rapids’ surge as part of a larger chase for historical marks, explicitly citing the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers’ 57-13-10 (.775) season as the benchmark for best record in AHL history that the Griffins are pursuing.

Grand Rapids’ road performance has been a signature strength. The club is 19-2-1-1 on the road and 22-6-2-0 at home, and a 17-game road points streak from Oct. 10 to Jan. 23 (15-0-1-1) set a new AHL record, eclipsing the 2010-11 Milwaukee Admirals’ 16-game run. Against Central Division opponents the Griffins are 32-5-3-1 and have outscored those rivals 149-85, with their first regulation division loss coming Jan. 9 at Texas.

Recent results show both the ceiling and some short-term bumps. EliteProspects logs a Feb. 26 overtime loss to Manitoba, 3-2 at 62:21, followed by a Feb. 28 3-2 loss to Iowa and a rebound Mar. 1, a 6-2 win over Iowa. Griffinshockey records that Grand Rapids posted five or more goals in four of six games from Jan. 31 to Feb. 15 but has been held under three goals in three of its last six games since Feb. 18; the team also has not dressed a 12th forward since Feb. 7 (eight games), a roster limitation noted by the club.

Standings context remains favorable but slightly fluid: Griffinshockey lists a 19-point cushion over Chicago for first place in the Central Division while TheAHL used a 21-point figure in a separate snapshot, a difference likely tied to timing of published standings. Griffinshockey also reports the Griffins hold a three-point advantage over the Providence Bruins in the race for the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy for the AHL’s regular-season champion, and TheAHL reminds that Central Division qualifiers will include five teams with the top three earning byes.

With the AHL regular season ending April 19, Grand Rapids shifts from clinch celebration to strategic management: protecting roster health, pursuing the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy and chasing all-time records remain on the table as the Griffins enter a March stretch that includes matchups listed on EliteProspects March 5 vs Rockford and March 7 at Cleveland. The club’s 41-8-3-1 start, historic road run and early clinch have positioned Grand Rapids to shape both the business of ticket plans and the development pipeline as it pursues the best regular-season finish in AHL history.