Patrick Williams again will deliver the FloHockey AHL Power Rankings throughout the regular season.

The Grand Rapids Griffins are on a record-setting pace yet still only have a seven-point edge for the AHL lead with the Colorado Eagles, Laval Rocket, Providence Bruins, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins continuing to fashion their own excellent starts as well. With all 32 teams going into their holiday break this week, let’s break down the top half of the AHL.

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1) Grand Rapids Griffins (--)
The fastest team to reach 50 points in a season in AHL history, the bigger question now is just how far the Griffins can take this run. Last Wednesday at Iowa they constructed a comeback from down a pair of goals. Then they blew out Iowa in a rematch two nights later before taking apart the Cleveland Monsters to close out their weekend back on home ice. Carter Gylander (6-0-1 | 1.57 | .943) continues to be an excellent partner for Sebastian Cossa and recorded his first AHL shutout in last Sunday’s game. Through 27 games, they have just two losses, and one of those came in a shootout. They are also working on a 14-game winning streak. This is dominance that may well have no peer in the AHL’s 90 seasons.

2) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (--)
Four more games came off the schedule last week, including a 3-in-3 weekend that featured a home-and-home series with the Utica Comets. The Penguins dropped a shootout decision at home on the back end of the home-and-home set, but they still came through the weekend with five of six points. The goaltending tandem of Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov could take this team far.

3) Colorado Eagles (+1)
A pair of home overtime wins against the Henderson Silver Knights sent the Eagles into their holiday break. Trent Miner took both turns in net and stopped a combined 55 of 58 shots in the two victories.  That nice nine-day break between games is the reward for the Eagles, who do not resume play until Dec. 30 at Calgary.

4) Providence Bruins (+1)
Providence finally got some down time last week, playing just one time and defeating the Syracuse Crunch at home. By the time the P-Bruins next play at home Jan. 4, they will have played 11 of 13 games on the road. They have three more contests to go as they continue to cut through their season’s road schedule: two trips to Springfield, and a quick jaunt to Hartford. All three of those road match-ups are against opponents near the bottom of the league, so this P-Bruins team could come out of this grind in great shape and then have a home-heavy schedule. Elite goaltender Michael DiPietro missed last Saturday’s game, but the P-Bruins have fellow standout Simon Zajicek.

5) San Jose Barracuda (+1)
Two more wins for the Barracuda, who have been one of the top stories through the first third of the AHL season. Packed with prospects, these Barracuda are growing – and winning – together at the AHL level. Combined with the parent San Jose Sharks having their own modest success, the organization’s rebuilding plan is showing some significant progress. They swept a two-game trip to Ontario, and they will come out of their holiday break with two more meetings with the Reign.

6) Laval Rocket (-2)
Laval got no bounce from Samuel Montembeault’s conditioning assignment. They came away from their two-game trip to Cleveland with a pair of defeats. There have been some clunkers lately for the Rocket, who are 1-4-0-1 in their past six games. The other defeats have come against the Belleville Senators, Bridgeport Islanders, and Toronto Marlies, three teams that have all had their struggles. It is increasingly looking like rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler might be staying with the Montreal Canadiens for a bit. Even the best teams must go through some churn in the win-loss column, and the Rocket are going through theirs now.

7) Charlotte Checkers (-2)
A brief pitstop home yielded just two of four points for the Checkers, who had to settle for a split with Springfield. These are the types of series that they need to sweep, especially given that they have trips of five, eight, and six games on their road schedule as the season unfolds. That five-gamer starts after the holiday break, and the Checkers will not be back on home ice until Jan. 9.

8) Chicago Wolves (+3)
A team plays the schedule in front of it, and the Wolves have done just that. In a month packed with four meetings with the struggling Milwaukee Admirals and a home date with Iowa going into the break, the Wolves have been stocking up on points. They have a six-game point streak (4-0-0-2) before they see the Wild again this Saturday on the road. Interim head coach Spiros Anastas has been a steady hand since the team’s coaching change on Dec. 12.

9) Syracuse Crunch (+3)
Before going to Providence, the Crunch were rolling with 17 goals in their previous three games. Ryan Fanti, who shut out the Bridgeport Islanders last Wednesday to start a three-game New England swing, has been a solid complement to veteran Brandon Halverson and took care of 46 of 48 shots last week in a pair of starts. A battle for the North Division lead starts Saturday when the Crunch visit Laval for back-to-back match-ups.

10) Coachella Valley Firebirds (-2)
The penalty kill is 24th, and the Firebirds rank 26th in the AHL in goals-against per game. Those two elements can make for some difficult nights in a grinding, demanding circuit like the AHL. Their surge of five wins in six games came to an end in a home-and-home series last weekend against the Bakersfield Condors. They have a busy calendar after their break, too.

11) Ontario Reign (-2)
Ontario plays a tight, close-checking style, but this is a team that does know how to take advantage of mistakes. They do have some finishers as they are sixth in scoring despite ranking 29th in shots per game. At 1-3-0-1 against San Jose this season, they will need to start to figure out the Barracuda, especially with those two post-break games ahead.

12) Bakersfield Condors (NR)
Isaac Howard had a 3-3-6 weekend that featured a hat trick last Saturday as the Condors swept Coachella Valley.
They will be without goaltender Connor Ingram for some time with him on recall to the Edmonton Oilers, so the net belongs to Matt Tomkins.

13) Manitoba Moose (-3)
A 6-0 home loss to Iowa on Dec. 14 was one thing. Then the Moose followed up that poor performance by taking a 7-3 beating from the Rockford IceHogs last Saturday. They did rebound by taking a 4-1 win against the IceHogs the following afternoon, but the Moose have shown themselves to be far too prone to these types of letdowns. Aside from a three-game trip earlier this month, the team has been at home since mid-November.

14) Hershey Bears (--)
Hershey’s franchise-record nine-game homestand finished just 4-5-0-0.

15) Rochester Americans (--)
Rochester got a split in a pair of home games against teams below the playoff line. It will do, but this has been a team that has shown some significant letdowns at times this season. Amerks general manager Jason Karmanos is out as a part of the sweeping management changes with the Buffalo Sabres of late.

16) Henderson Silver Knights (NR)
Dropping seven of nine games in November took a lot of the shine off what had been an impressive start to the season for the Silver Knights. Now the team has Carl Lindbom back in net, though, and their results are starting to reflect how much he can bring to this team. Their next nine games will all be against Coachella Valley, Colorado, or Ontario.

Out of the Top 16
Lehigh Valley Phantoms
Milwaukee Admirals

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