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Tyler Bertuzzi arrived in April and made an immediate impact on the Griffins.

(Hugh Carey | MLive.com)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The Grand Rapids Griffins found something in Tyler Bertuzzi that had been missing from the team since Mitch Callahan was lost to a knee injury in February.

Bertuzzi, a 20-year-old rookie who has been the biggest surprise in the postseason, has produced offensively (six goals in eight games), defensively and provided a little nasty edge when necessary to put the Griffins into the Western Conference finals.

"I just wanted to come up here and, if I was playing, play hard and do whatever I could to keep myself in the lineup," said Bertuzzi, who is the team's third leading scorer (6-3-9) and is tied for the team lead with a plus-6 rating. "Getting that first goal (in his first game) gave me a lot of confidence and everything's been going really smooth since."

Callahan, over four seasons, developed into a top-line forward for the Griffins (16 goals and 38 points in 48 games) and kept his grit around the net. Blashill always called him one of the hardest working players on the team.

When Callahan's season was cut short by a knee injury Feb. 13, the Griffins weren't as physical nor weren't quite as edgy. With the arrival of Bertuzzi, the Red Wings' third pick in the 2013 draft, those elements are back.

"When we lost Mitch Callahan at that point we were worried if we had enough guys who played like him, ," coach Jeff Blashill said. "Tyler happened to be a perfect fit in that he plays very much like Mitch. He does a lot of the same things; he really complements skilled players."

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Bertuzzi arrived in Grand Rapids on April 16, two days after his OHL team, Guelph Storm, was eliminated from the playoffs. He was 10th in the OHL in scoring with 98 points (43-55-98) with 91 penalty minutes and a plus-26 rating in 68 games.

In the OHL playoffs, Bertuzzi tied for the team's playoff scoring lead with six goals and two assists in nine games.

In four seasons with the Storm, Bertuzzi had 171 points (71-100-171), 325 PIM and a plus-35 rating.

Since arriving in Grand Rapids, his highlight reel has included:

• A goal in his pro debut April 17 as the Griffins reclaimed the Midwest Division lead late in the regular season.

• A goal and assist in his playoff debut in Game Three against Toronto on May 1. He missed the first two games with the flu.

• A two-goal game, including the game-winner 13 seconds into overtime to give the Griffins a 2-1 victory and a 3-1 series lead against Rockford on May 14.

• What proved to be the winning goal Sunday in the series clincher against Rockford.

"Getting called up from juniors I knew it was going to be a big transition," Bertuzzi said. "But I was able to score that first game, get some confidence and playing with a top line here (with Andy Miele and Mark Zengerle) has made it a lot easier for me."

The Griffins await the outcome of the Utica-Oklahoma City series (tied 3-3 with Game Seven on Wednesday) before they can start the conference finals sometime this weekend. Whatever team it is, Bertuzzi won't be unnoticed.

"The one thing I'd say is consistent with the guys who have been able to come in and play (after arriving late in the season) is they have been really good two-way players," Blashill said. "Zach (Nastasiuk) played right away because of that and I think Tyler Bertuzzi is a really good two-well player as well."

Pete Wallner covers sports for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at pwallner@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.