GRAND RAPIDS - The Grand Rapids Griffins, who started defense of the Calder Cup trophy with a thud, are showing signs of life with a lineup change that has yielded encouraging results.
The Griffins used an unorthodox mix of 11 forwards and seven defensemen since Dec. 29 and have not lost since with a season-best five-game winning streak to improve to 16-15-1-4.
They have 23 goals in that span with at least four each game.
The decision to deploy an extra defenseman and rotate the forwards was made by coach Todd Nelson, ironically, because of the injuries.