Left without another loss to give in their AHL Calder Cup playoff series against the Chicago Wolves, the Grand Rapids Griffins are grasping at straws and clutching on to cliches.

Professional athletes uttering cliches is generally par for the course. In this case, it is also entirely appropriate.

All season long, as is the case with most sports teams, Grand Rapids players have talked about taking things a game at a time. It’s what they are still saying, only now, it’s their only alternative.

Trailing the Wolves 2-0 in their best-of-five Central Division final series, players for the top farm club of the Detroit Red Wings are well aware that trying to see the big picture in their situation could prove overwhelming.

“It’s one game at a time,” Griffins captain Dominik Shine said. “It’s a five-game series. You know, it’s not over in two.

“So, we win the next one. They feel a little pressure, and then we keep going.”

Game 3 is Tuesday in Chicago. Counting the regular season, the Wolves have won four of the past five games against the Griffins.

Griffins Have No One To Blame But Themselves

Throughout the season, Grand Rapids has lost three games in a row only three times. If they do it again, they know that their season is over.

Finding themselves in that dilemma this time is entirely the fault of the Griffins themselves.

In Game 2 on home ice at Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids blew 2-0 and 3-1 leads, losing 4-3 in overtime to fall behind 2-0 in the series.

“We let off the gas,” Shine said. “We were taking it to them there in the first period. I thought in the second period, too.

“You could feel at the end of the second, we kind of laid off and kind of let them find their game. And we had to stay aggressive, keep putting pucks behind them, keep hitting them.”

Shine believes it is this element of the game that the Griffins can take advantage of to engineer a turnaround in the series.

“They’re a frustrating team to play against because they play a super aggressive style,” Shine said. “The longer the series gets, the more those hits add up. So we got to be aggressive. We gotta hit, and we gotta keep going.”

Watson Believes Griffins Can Cure What Ails Them

Grand Rapids coach Dan Watson believes that his team can learn from their mistakes and climb back into the series. He’s certain they know the keys to beating the Wolves.

“I think for us, just being more determined at certain times and keeping the game simple at certain points,” Watson said. “I thought at times we, again, we tried to make an extra play or we didn’t move it quick enough.

“You know, they’ll be right on top of you. They do a really good job of taking space away. So, again, we just have to focus on what we do with the puck, how we manage it, our support areas, and I think that’s something we can clean up.”

What the Griffins can’t focus on is the monumental task before them if they want to keep going in the AHL playoffs. But they don’t think that will be an issue.

After last night’s overtime loss @asktheduffer asked Michael Brandsegg-Nygård “how does the group refocus heading into game 3?” and MBN kept it very simple “we’re professionals it should be easy”

Hear his full postgame media availability ⬇️#GoGRG #AHL #LGRW pic.twitter.com/eTHkneo9dw

— Hockeytown West Podcast (@HockeytownWpod) May 17, 2026

Grand Rapids forward Michael Brandsegg-Nygard was frank in his reasoning why they can so easily focus on the task at hand, and not be overwhelmed by how they got into this dire situation.

“Because we’re professionals,” Brandsegg-Nygard said. “It should be easy.”