Chicago Wolves Game Notes ROCKFORD at CHICAGO FEBRUARY 26, 2019 7 P.M
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2018-19 Chicago Wolves Game Notes ROCKFORD AT CHICAGO FEBRUARY 26, 2019 7 p.m. AHLTV 2018-19 HISTORY IN THE MAKING TALE OF THE TAPE In the Chicago Wolves’ 25-year history, the team has hosted 22 homestands of five games or more. If the Wolves can pull off the victory in today’s homestand finale against the Rockford IceHogs, then this REGULAR-SEASON SERIES would mark the second sweep in franchise annals of such a long homestand. 5-3-1-0 Rockford | 4-3-2-0 Chicago In 2002-03, John Anderson’s Wolves posted a five-game sweep March 15-26 by a combined 17-10 score over Philadelphia, Grand Rapids, Rochester, Manitoba and Houston. Heading into today’s game, Rocky Thompson’s crew has won four in a row by a 12-6 margin over Iowa, Texas, Grand Rapids and Texas. That’s not all the Wolves can achieve with a victory tonight. Grand Rapids holds a 70-68 edge in points 26-22-3-6 31-17-5-1 over the Wolves in the Central Division standings, but the Griffins have played two more games. If the Wolves win, they’ll pull even in points but take over first place as they own the tiebreaker (regulation LEADING SCORERS IN SERIES and overtime wins) over Grand Rapids by a 31-27 count. ROCKFORD CHICAGO Skater G A Pts Skater G A Pts BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Schroeder 1 7 8 Carr 2 8 10 Today’s game also has a huge impact on the Illinois Lottery Cup’s destination for the next year. The x Raddysh 3 4 7 Macek 4 4 8 Wolves have owned the Cup for the last two years, but they need to win at least two of the final three Nilsson 2 4 6 McKenzie 4 4 8 meetings this season to keep the Cup. Louis 1 5 6 x Pirri 4 4 8 The IceHogs head into tonight’s game with a 5-4 edge in wins over the Wolves. The Cup goes to the SERIES GAME-BY-GAME team with more wins in the 12-game season series. If the teams split the 12 games, then the tiebreaker Date Location Result SF-SA PP PK becomes total points. The IceHogs own 11 points while the Wolves have 10. Then, if that doesn’t decide Nov. 10 Allstate Arena L, 3-4 40-23 1-6 5-7 matters, then the Cup gets retained by the defending champion. Nov. 23 Rockford MetroCentre W, 7-2 38-35 1-6 3-4 Nov. 25 Allstate Arena L, 2-3 31-22 0-4 4-5 FAREWELL TO BRÄNNSTRÖM Dec. 8 Rockford MetroCentre W, 4-0 39-32 1-4 1-1 Minutes before the NHL’s trading deadline expired Monday afternoon, the Vegas Golden Knights ac- Dec. 21 Allstate Arena OTL, 4-5 36-25 0-2 1-2 quired Ottawa Senators forward Mark Stone (28 goals and 34 assists in 59 games) in exchange for Dec. 28 Rockford MetroCentre W, 4-2 37-23 2-6 4-4 Wolves defenseman Erik Brännström, Vegas forward Oscar Lindberg and an NHL second-round pick. Dec. 29 Allstate Arena W (OT), 2-1 43-21 1-6 3-4 Jan. 19 Allstate Arena OTL, 2-3 38-28 2-3 2-2 The 19-year-old Brännström played a valuable role during his first professional season in North Amer- Feb. 1 Rockford MetroCentre L, 2-5 30-29 1-3 2-2 Feb. 26 Allstate Arena 7 p.m. ica. He was the youngest player at the 2019 AHL All-Star Classic as he and forward rep- Daniel Carr March 20 Rockford MetroCentre 7 p.m. resented the Wolves at last month’s event in Springfield, Massachusetts. Brännstrom triggered the March 31 Rockford MetroCentre 4 p.m. Wolves’ first power-play unit and posted seven goals and 21 assists in 41 games. THROWING IT BACK TO 2017 Vegas also acquired Belleville Senators center Tobias Lindberg, who produced 10 goals and 13 assists One night after Wolves rookie defenseman Vince in 64 games for the Wolves last season. He posted 5 goals and 7 assists in 44 games this season split Dunn knocked down Iowa’s Kurtis Gabriel with one between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Belleville. punch in the Allstate Arena tunnel after Gabriel pur- sued him to reprise an on-ice fight, the Wolves dealt LAST TWO GAMES the Wild another blow on Feb. 26, 2017, when Wade Megan’s league-leading 25th goal came 24 seconds SUNDAY, FEB. 24 (at) CHICAGO 4, TEXAS 2 into OT for a 4-3 win. What else was happening in the • Daniel Carr scored his league-leading 29th goal and handed out two primary assists as the world around this time? Wolves extended their home winning streak to a season-high five games. • Near the end of the Academy Awards ceremony, Best • Forward Keegan Kolesar and rookie defenseman Zach Whitecloud and Dylan Coghlan also Picture presenter Warren Beatty mistakenly declared scored goals while forwards Curtis McKenzie and Brooks Macek posted two assists apiece. “La La Land” to be inthe winner. After a brief cele- • Goaltender Oscar Dansk’s 38 saves set his season-high. bration on stage, it became evident that “Moonlight” was the actual winner of Best Picture. SATURDAY, FEB. 23 (at) CHICAGO 3, GRAND RAPIDS 2 • Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” began its second of 11 • Keegan Kolesar retrieved his own rebound and fired it home 3:35 into the third period to make weeks atop the Billboard’s Hot 100 charts. the difference against the Central Division leader at Allstate Arena. • Forwards Curtis McKenzie and Brooks Macek notched the other Chicago goals while forward ALL-TIME RECORD BREAKDOWN Daniel Carr tallied earned the primary assist on both of those scores. Seasons Home Road Overall • Goaltender Max Lagace earned 24 saves to pick up his third win in a row. 2007-2018 42-18-4-3 24-33-5-4 66-51-9-7 2018-19 Chicago Wolves Game Notes 2018-19 HOME-ROAD CONTRASTS BY THE NUMBERS Regular Season Home Away Difference As in the number of digits in 10 Wolves’ goal totals. When Dylan Coghlan, Keegan Kolesar Goals For 3.32 3.58 0.26 and Curtis McKenzie scored over the weekend, they became the eighth, ninth and 10th Goals Against 2.93 2.69 0.24 2 Wolves to reach the 10-goal mark this season. No other AHL team has as many players in double figures. These Wolves have some work to do to set the franchise record, though. In 2006-07, RECORD BY DIVISION 14 Wolves produced double-digit goals for the highest-scoring team in Wolves annals. Record Win % Central 24-16-4-1 .589 The Wolves’ prowess during even-strength play shows up in the league’s plus/minus rat- North 2-0-1-0 .833 ings as Chicago owns the top three spots and four of the top five. Daniel Carr continues Pacific 5-1-0-0 .833 3 to lead the AHL with his +34 rating while linemate Gage Quinney and rookie defensemen Zach Whitecloud share second at +32. Nic Hague ranks fifth at +26. RECORD BY MONTH Daniel Carr’s career-high 10-game point streak shares the longest active stretch in the Record Win % October 6-2-0-1 .722 AHL with former teammate Brandon Pirri, who rang up his streak before joining the November 4-5-2-0 .455 10 NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights for good. Teammate Curtis McKenzie owns the next-lon- December 10-3-1-0 .750 gest active streak with Bakersfield’s Cooper Marody as McKenzie boasts a season-high eight-game January 4-4-2-0 .500 point streak that features four goals and seven assists. February 7-3-0-0 .700 March 0-0-0-0 .000 The Wolves and their NHL partner, the Vegas Golden Knights, have been blessed with April 0-0-0-0 .000 relatively good health this season, which is signified by the fact the Wolves have 29 needed to use just 29 players to this point in the season. By comparison, last year’s IN OVERTIME (6-5) team used 45 players. There’s a minute chance this year’s squad could break the franchise record of 30 players, which was set in 1995-96 when general manager Wendell Young ruled the nets and Goaltender Saves-Shots SV% Oscar Dansk (3-2) 7-9 .778 senior advisor Gene Ubriaco coached the team. Max Lagace (3-3) 7-10 .700 The Wolves are outscoring their opponents by 34 goals this season (186-152), which is the third-highest differential in the AHL. Most of that advantage has been piled up IN THE SHOOTOUT (0-1) 34 during the first period, when Chicago has outscored its foes 65-39. Nobody in the AHL is close to that +26 margin. The Wolves have outshot their foes by 93 in the first period, but Shooter Goals-Chances SH% they’ve been outshot by 68 after the first period. T.J. Tynan 1-1 1.000 Erik Brännström 0-1 .000 AHL All-Star left wing Daniel Carr enters tonight’s action with 16 points (8G, 8A) in Daniel Carr 0-1 .000 10 games since the All-Star break. For the season, he’s averaging 1.44 points per Reid Duke 0-1 .000 Brooks Macek 0-1 .000 101 game. If he maintains this pace over the team’s final 22 games, he’ll finish with 101 Stefan Matteau 0-1 .000 points this season.