Grand Rapids Griffins Clinch Western Conference Title, Third in AHL History

A 6-3 final in San Jose on Friday night did what Grand Rapids had been building toward all season. When San Jose beat the Colorado Eagles by that margin, the Grand Rapids Griffins officially became the AHL's Western Conference regular-season champions, their third such title as an AHL franchise and fifth overall when counting IHL Eastern Conference crowns in 1999-00 and 2000-01.

The Griffins were not idle while the news broke. Playing in Winnipeg that same night, they beat the Manitoba Moose 6-3 at the Canada Life Centre to push their season total to 101 points through 66 games: the fifth-highest single-season figure in the franchise's 30-year history, the seventh time they have reached triple digits, and the fastest they have ever done it. Their last 100-point campaign came in 2016-17.

Michael Brandsegg-Nygard notched the game-winner and an assist against the Moose, while Eduards Tralmaks scored to record his seventh point across four outings. Wojciech Stachowiak collected his ninth point in that same span, Sheldon Dries extended his point streak to five games with a helper, and Erik Gustafsson logged an assist for his eighth in five contests. Gabriel Seger put the result away with an empty-netter with 1:40 remaining, and Sebastian Cossa improved his record on the season to 26-7.

That distribution of production is not incidental. When Detroit recalled Dries, Leonard, Tralmaks, Dominik Shine and Brandsegg-Nygard in March, the Red Wings were temporarily taking the Griffins' top five goal scorers off the roster. Grand Rapids kept winning regardless. Earlier in the year they had set an AHL record with a 17-game road points streak, and they finished the night 32-0 in games where they led after two periods.

The conference title is the last station on a season of sequential milestones. Grand Rapids clinched its playoff berth on Feb. 27, the earliest date in franchise history and the earliest for any AHL team since 1993. The Central Division crown followed on March 26 with a 5-2 win at Cleveland, the club's first division title since 2014-15. The previous AHL conference championships came in 2002-03 and 2005-06.

As Western Conference champion, Grand Rapids holds home-ice advantage and full matchup control when the Calder Cup playoff bracket is set after April 19. With a 48-13-4-1 record, the Griffins have also earned the right to decide exactly how much they leave in the tank before the postseason begins.