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Leonard Leads League; Wins Game 3-2
Griffins Veteran winger scores game winner and assumes AHL scoring lead...
By Jason Kasiorek
www.griffinscentral.com
November 28th, 2025
Despite missing several games as part of the griffins rotating veteran scratch, John Leonard has had a fantastic start to the season, scoring a goal per game to sit on the throne as the AHL's leading goal scorer. Tonight, he scored the game winner, midway through the game, his 14th and now also is the leading point getter. Justin Holl opened the scoring with 2nd of the campaign, and Eduards Tralmaks (10) notched a powerplay goal. Carter Gylander made 28 stops to pick up his 4th win five appearances.
First Period
Leanard with a great chance early, right on the doorstep in front of Wild netminder William Rousseau. Huge hit by Michael Brandsegg- Nygard who sent a Wild player flying in the air and then landing in a heap. Gabriel Seger was dumped in the slot with no call. Lots of pressure by Grand Rapids in the early going. Tralmaks with a blast from the slot for a good chance. Justin Holl pinched in, skating towards the net and then picked up a rebound from MBN as he went around the net, tucking in behind Rousseau for a 1-0 lead. That goal set off a deluge of stuffed animals raining down onto the ice as part of the annual "teddy bear" toss. It took quite a while to gather up all of the animal from the playing surface.
Right off the faceoff, Liwiski and Bantle dropped the gloves for a spirited bout. Bantle pulled Liwiski's sweater over his head and got a couple of shots in before the officials moved in. They could not however tie up Liwiski and after he threw a couple of punches at Bantle, The Griffins forward went back to hitting him. Eventually the officials got them separated by each combatant drew 5 minutes for fighting, a game misconduct for staging a fight and a ten-minute misconduct for continuing the altercation. Sheldon Dries to a high stack and went down on the ice, he eventually made his way to the bench, but looked to be in pain. Good movement by the Griffins on the powerplay and Tralmaks ripped a shot from the circle past Rousseau to push the score to 2-0. Iowa got it right back, on the rush and Holl slid into Gylander who was then unable to stop the shot from Aube-Kubel. Holl to the box for crosschecking and the Griffins went to the PK. Dries with a nice shorthanded chance.
Shots on goal: GR 15 - Iowa 5.
Second Period
The wild tied things us early in the 2nd when Mayhew got behind Kannok-Leipert, took a feed right on the doorstep and chipped it in over Gylander. The tie didn't last long as the Griffins stole the puck at the line And Dries made a sick backhand pass, threading the needle between a defenders leg and right onto the tape of Leonard cruising up the slot. He buried it for his league leading 14th (in 14 games). Tuomisto prevented what looked like a sure goal, batting a rebound out of the air to the side of Gylander.
Shots on goal: GR 7 - Iowa 13.
Third Period
Brandsegg-Nygard to the box after a super long delayed penalty which frustrated the Griffins. A minute later Leonard was called for slashing setting up a 5-3 penalty kill for Grand Rapids. The penalty killing unit did a great job, killing off the first minute. Watson with a steal went in on a 2-on-1 with Shine, but the Griffins captain fired it over the net. Holl, skating backward, turned and knocked a wild player down, which somehow was interpreted as a penalty - brutal call. The Griffins had more shorthanded scoring chances then the Wild had chances on the ensuing man-advantage. Jacib Truscott narrowly missed being seriously injured, as he was being checked into the boards, a Wild player opened the door to the bench. Truscott collided with the edge of the boards in the bench at full speed. Luckily he made his way to the bench and ended up staying in the game. Iowa pulled Rousseau for the extra skater with 1:17 left in the game. GR had a couple of tries at the empty net. Tempers boiled over as the clock ticked down to zero with a big scrum at the buzzer.
Shots on Goal: GR 7 - Iowa 12. For the Game: GR 29 - Iowa 30.
Starting Lines:
#81 Rychlovsky - #11 Seger - #34 Tralmaks
#19 Leonard - #15 Dries - #65 Shine
#28 Brandsegg-Nygard - #77 Angle - #51 Watson
#47 Doucet - #25 Becher - #21 Bantle
Pairings:
#22 Wallinder - #4 Tuomisto
#37 Lagesson - #3 Holl
#20 Truscott - #41 Kannok-Leipert
Starter: #31 Gylander
Backup: #33 Cossa
Scratches:
#27 Moyle
#30 Tokarski
#35 Postava (Injured)
#43 Mazur (Injured)
#55 Mitchell (Veteran Scratch)
#56 Gustafsson (Veteran Scratch)
$93 Lombardi (injured)
Power Play:
#15 Dries - #77 Angle - #19 Leonard
#37 Lagesson - #65 Shine
#81 Rychlovsky - #25 Becher - #28 Brandsegg-Nygard
#4 Tuomisto - #34 Tralmaks
PK:
#15 Dries - #65 Shine
#22 Wallinder - #37 Lagesson
#51 Watson - #19 Leonard
#4 Tuomisto - #41 Kannok-Leipert
#11 Seger - #77 Angle
Observations:
Gritty win for the Griffins, when they didn't have their best stuff. This game was atypical of most of their recent wins, in that the defense was not airtight. They found a way to battle back and get another win.
After a string of pretty good games, Justin Holl had a rough night (despite the goal). He just looked to be playing in a haze, weak clearing attempts, bad passes, and defensive miscues. Despite the opinion of his play at the NHL level, he has been pretty effective on the Griffins blueline this season, and this was an outlier - hopefully not a sign of things to come.
William Lagesson may be one of the best defensemen in the AHL the season. He was physical without taking penalties and really used his footspeed and strong stick to take everything away when he was on the ice. Being paired with Tuomisto also seemed to bring out the best in the talented Finn's game as he had one of his best games of the season.
I have to give a shout out to Michael Brandsegg-Nygard for his all-around game. He really played a physical game tonight and was noticeable in all three zones. Even when his offensive game isn't on-line, he still plays big minutes and provides value for his time on ice. His three shots on goal tied for the team lead, and I would bet he was near the lead for hits.
Also, another very good game for Carter Gylander who really is using his opening to make a name for himself. With a 4-01 record, 2.01 GAA and 93% save percentage he would be on the AHL leaderboard if he had 2 more appearances. If he can't find a spot in this organization he may make enough of an impression to find a home in another.
Anti Tuomisto was on the outside looking in this fall as the organization listed its top defensive prospects. He has elevated his game as of late to try to shift that focus, nothing 6 points in his last 3 games and is one of 5 griffins on the AHL +/- leaderboard.
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