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Weekly Plus - Minus 01/06/09
Best and worst performances of the week...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
The Griffins picked 6 of 8 possible points last week, with victories against Peoria (3-1), Iowa (6-0), and Manchester (2-1) and the lone loss in Hartford. The two Frankie's line kept up the pace accounting for 12 points (5-7-12) in four games on the week. Frankie Pare led the way again with 5 points closely followed by Frankie Lemieux (4), Mattias Ritola, Evan McGrath and Darren Haydar with three each. Both netminders turned in big games, with Jimmy Howard having the better week by a slim margin. Jonathan Ericsson returned early from injury to score his first goal of the season, and winger Jamie Tardif led the club with 15 shots on goal.
This weeks top three plus and minus performances:
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 | Frankie Pare
Frankie Jr shows no signs of slowing as he keeps scoring points at a blistering pace, with 13 in his last 10 games. The diminutive sniper notched 3 goals and 2 assist in the four games last week good enough for 18th in rookie scoring despite having played almost half as many games as the people ahead of him. |
 | Jimmy Howard
Howard turned in a pair gems, leading the griffins to two victories on the week, a 6-0 shutout over Iowa and a 2-1 win in Manchester. His stingy .50 GAA last week also helped GR move up to the third best defense in the AHL. |
 | Mattias Ritola
Ritola kept up his strong defensive play and added some clutch scoring this week, scoring a late game winner over Manchester. The tricky forward counted a pair of goals and an assist in four games, giving him more points than he had all last season. |
| Minus | |
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 | Ville Leino
Leino and his linemates (see below) had a rough week at both ends of the ice. The slick Finn was mired in another scoring slump for the week, producing only one assist in four games. As if that wasn't bad enough, he wasn't even getting chances, and finished with just 6 shots on goal in that span. |
 | Justin Abdelkader
Abdelkader has been able to overcome his lack of offensive punch as of late with strong play in his own end, and an attention to detail. This week however was a tough one as he finished with a team worst -4 and was not as effective as he has been. |
 | Aaron Downey
Downey has made a name for himself this season with his strong, energetic play and by being resp[onsible in his own end. Aaron sat out a game this week after going scoreless in the first three with a -3 defensive rating. |
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