GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The 2017-18 Grand Rapids Griffins were missing a few key pieces from last year’s Calder Cup-winning team.

Most notably, Martin Frk, who won a spot with the Detroit Red Wings out of training camp, Tomas Nosek, who was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights during the expansion draft, and injuries forced Tyler Bertuzzi and Evgeny Svechnikov to sit.

However, nine combined points from the third line of Turner Elson, Dominic Turgeon and Colin Campbell propelled the Griffins to a 5-2 win against the Manitoba Moose on Friday.

Before the game, the Griffins celebrated their 2017 Calder Cup championship in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,834 at Van Andel Arena with a banner-raising ceremony, their second championship in five seasons. A montage of the Calder Cup run played on the videoboard, as the crowd roared in delight.

After the video, the players from last season’s team gathered in front of the banner for a photo op before it was raised to the roof of Van Andel next to the 2013 banner.

“There’s a lot of emotion for the returning guys; for new guys, it’s special in itself,” captain Matthew Ford told Wings Nation. “The first game here, it’s a pretty loud building here in Grand Rapids. We had flashes of good things. We had Turgeon’s line playing really well for us. You need guys to step up each night, and they were probably our catalyst (Friday).”

Coach Todd Nelson said he was happy to see his players enjoy the ceremony and get off to a good start, as the Griffins held a 3-0 lead after one period.

“It was pretty emotional, seeing how they raised the banner and having us all out there,” he said. “I’ve been through these before, it’s a coach’s nightmare because you want the players to enjoy the moment, but once the puck drops, you want them to start playing, and I thought our guys responded well. I thought we had a good first period. … It was one of those things our guys were getting outworked in the second and third, but we scored timely goals.

“It was a fun night, it was nice to get this first one out of the way. It’s always nice when you win your home opener.”

Elson had a memorable Griffins debut, scoring the game-winning goal and adding three assists. Elson, 25, played in just 13 games for the San Antonio Rampage last season, as he had sports hernia surgery and had a tendon in his groin taken out. He had one goal and two points. During the 2015-16 season with the Stockton Heat, he had 14 goals and 16 assists in 63 games, including an assist in one game with the Calgary Flames.

Elson said he couldn’t have had a better debut.

“I wasn’t expecting that for me,” he said, “I just wanted to go out there and show that I can be here and be a part of this team and produce for this team. That’s what my goal was coming into the game. I have two good linemates that have good hockey sense and know how to play in this building, know how to play with each other.”

Ford said he has been impressed with Elson’s hockey IQ since training camp.

“From camp, you could tell he has a lot of hockey smarts,” Ford said. “I think he was injured a lot last year, and he was excited to come in here and be a part of a winning environment.”

Elson said the team made him feel welcome from Day 1, which helped him transition.

“I was very comfortable,” he said. “These guys, the dressing room guys are the best. I’ve never seen a dressing room this tight. There are no outsiders here. They made me feel a part of really quick. They are just a good group of guys and a good coaching staff, so it made it easy for me to transition to this team.”

Elson has been on a line with his roommate, Turgeon, and Campbell since the second day of practice. The living arrangement appears to be translating to production on the ice.

“He’s a solid centerman,” Elson said of Turgeon. “He wins draws, he battles for pucks. He’s got good hockey smarts. You need a centerman that communicates with the wingers. … He’s a really good player.”

The Griffins had a lethal power play last season, with the best mark during the regular season (24.4 percent) and the best mark during the Calder Cup playoffs (21.3 percent for all teams playing at least six games).

Despite losing a few key contributors, the power play continues to shine, as the team went 1 for 4 with the man advantage against Manitoba.

On their first power-play opportunity, Ben Street made a nice cross-ice feed to Ryan Sproul, who one-timed it past goalie Eric Comrie to put the Griffins up 1-0 at the 8:41 mark of the first period.

“The first power play, I thought we were good,” Ford said. “When we get it in and set it up, I’m not worried. We just have to keep working on our entries. There’s a few new parts. Sprouly’s got a big shot. I think we’ll be fine. … We have two good units that can make some plays.”

Despite missing some key contributors, Nelson said he arranged the first power-play unit to be as similar as last season’s.

“I liked the first goal we scored was a nice power-play goal, we had good puck movement,” he said. “Off that one unit, we are missing Marty Frk and Tomas Nosek. We inserted Eric Tangradi and Sprouly, so it has the same look. You have a big shot on the right side, that’s how he scored his goal. Street was working the point. … So far so good, we are running at 25 percent.”

Jared Coreau picked up where he left off last season, making 27 saves in securing his first win of the season. The 25-year-old cleared waivers earlier this week and said he was happy with his performance Friday.

“I thought it was fairly clean — a couple rebounds to clean up, a couple puck plays,” he said. “But overall, I think I’m pretty happy with my first start of the year. The guys looked good, the team looked pretty good. We moved the puck around a lot, there’s still some things to work on.”