Chicago Wolves Game Notes CHICAGO at SAN ANTONIO MARCH 23, 2019 7 P.M
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2018-19 Chicago Wolves Game Notes CHICAGO AT SAN ANTONIO MARCH 23, 2019 7 p.m. AHLTV 2018-19 ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION? It defies logic, but it’s the truth: The Chicago Wolves keep losing important players, but they keep TALE OF THE TAPE winning important games. The latest example came Friday night as the Wolves knocked off the Texas REGULAR-SEASON SERIES Stars 4-1 despite playing without three of their top five scorers this season -- and losing their No. 6 4-2-0-0 San Antonio | 2-3-0-1 Chicago scorer during the third period. On the morning of Feb. 17, the Wolves woke up in third place in the Central Division. They owned 60 points, which was seven behind the front-running Grand Rapids Griffins and two behind the Iowa Wild. Since that time, the Wolves have lost defenseman Erik Brannstrom (trade), No. 1 AHL scorer Daniel Carr (injury), No. 4 AHL scorer Brooks Macek (injury), physical forward Stefan Matteau (injury) and 27-31-6-1 AHL plus-minus leader Gage Quinney (potential injury during Friday’s game). 38-19-5-3 LEADING SCORERS IN SERIES Nevertheless, the Wolves have produced an 11-2-0-2 record (.800) since Feb. 17 to vault past the Grif- fins and the Wild into first place in the Central Division. Chicago takes the ice tonight with a 4-point SAN ANTONIO CHICAGO lead over Grand Rapids and Iowa. Moreover, the Wolves’ magic number for a Calder Cup playoff berth Skater G A Pts Skater G A Pts has dropped to 9. Reinke 3 2 5 Tynan 0 6 6 x MacEachern 3 0 3 McKenzie 3 1 4 Nolan 3 0 3 Kolesar 2 1 3 IT’S THE DEFENSE, STUPID Kyrou 2 1 3 Quinney 2 1 3 Over the Wolves’ last 15 games, the team has allowed more than two goals just twice. Not coinciden- tally, those are the teams’ only regulation losses during this streak (4-2 on March 2 at Texas and 3-2 on March 15 vs. Cleveland). SERIES GAME-BY-GAME Date Location Result SF-SA PP PK Goaltenders Max Lagace and Oscar Dansk have taken turns handling the crease during this five- Oct. 28 AT&T Center L, 2-3 27-20 1-4 4-7 week stretch. Because Lagace has spent most of the last week with the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, Dec. 1 Allstate Arena L, 3-5 22-15 1-3 3-3 Jan. 4 Allstate Arena L, 0-3 31-22 0-3 3-3 Dansk has been in charge for the last three games and allowed just four goals. Since Feb. 17, Dansk Jan. 5 Allstate Arena W, 3-1 23-23 1-6 4-5 owns a 5-1-1 record with a 1.70 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. Not to be outdone, March 5 AT&T Center SOL, 1-2 17-17 0-6 3-4 Lagace has contributed a 6-1-1 record with a 1.23 GAA and a .955 save percentage. March 16 Allstate Arena W, 6-2 26-33 1-2 2-2 March 23 AT&T Center 7 p.m. COGHLAN’S POWERFUL PLAY March 26 AT&T Center 7 p.m. Rookie defenseman Dylan Coghlan opened the scoring Friday night by blistering a slapshot from the right point past Texas goaltender Landon Bow. That continued Coghlan’s steady rise among the AHL’s THROWING IT BACK TO 1996 most potent power-play threats. The 21-year-old owns nine power-play goals this season -- one of 18 Almost exactly 23 years ago today (March 24, 1996, players with at least nine PPGs. to be precise), Rob Brown delivered the greatest single-game scoring effort in Wolves history. As Of those 18 players, only three are rookies (Coghlan, Texas’ Joel L’Esperance and Syracuse’s Alex part of the Wolves’ 10-3 home win over the Kansas Barre-Boulet) and only three are defensemen (Coghlan, Rochester’s Zach Redmond and Wilkes-Barre/ City Blades, Brown scored two goals and handed out Scranton’s Ethan Prow). a franchise-record six assists to become the only Wolves player to score eight points in a game. What else was happening in the world? Let’s find out! THE ROAD TRIP SO FAR • Eleven candidates announced their intention to FRIDAY, MARCH 22 CHICAGO 4, (at) TEXAS 1 run for the Republican Party’s nomination for the • The Wolves shrugged off an early 1-1 knot to produce a three-goal victory and finish the regular- presidential election, but Kansas Sen. Bob Dole had season series with a 6-2-0-0 record against Texas. clinched the nomination before March was over. • Defenseman Dylan Coghlan and forwards Ryan Wagner, Keegan Kolesar and Tomas Hyka • Also on March 24, the Chicago Bulls somehow scored goals while T.J. Tynan and Curtis McKenzie handed out two assists apiece. dropped a 109-108 decision to the 18-win Toronto • Goaltender Oscar Dansk posted 23 saves. Raptors. The Bulls’ record fell to 60-8. • March 23 marked the first day in 16 weeks that “One WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20 (at) ROCKFORD 2, CHICAGO 1 (SO) Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boys II Men did not • The WOlves overcame a second-period deficit but were unable to capitalize during the three- own the Billboard’s No. 1 spot. Celine Dion knocked round shootout to overtake the IceHogs. them off with “Because You Loved Me.” • Forward Gage Quinney scored his third short-handed goal of the season for Chicago to knot the ALL-TIME RECORD BREAKDOWN game in the second period.. • Goaltender Oscar Dansk recorded 28 saves. Seasons Home Road Overall 2009-2018 11-12-2-2 10-11-3-1 21-23-5-3 2018-19 Chicago Wolves Game Notes 2018-19 HOME-ROAD CONTRASTS BY THE NUMBERS Regular Season Home Away Difference The Wolves’ prowess during even-strength play shows up in the league’s plus/minus rat- Goals For 3.27 3.34 0.07 Goals Against 2.69 2.53 0.16 ings as Chicago owns the top three spots. Center Gage Quinney leads the league with his 3 +37 while his former linemate Daniel Carr and rookie defenseman Zach Whitecloud share second at +35. Rookie defenseman Nic Hague sits in a three-way tie for fourth place with a +28. RECORD BY DIVISION Heading into tonight’s matchup, the Wolves need just 9 points in 11 remaining games to Record Win % Central 31-17-4-3 .627 clinch the franchise’s 20th playoff berth in 25 years. Only Bakersfield (5) has a lower num- North 2-1-1-0 .625 9 ber in the Western Conference. The magic number is reduced each time the Wolves earn Pacific 5-1-0-0 .833 points, as well as each time teams outside the playoff picture fail to earn points. The Wolves have held firm on their last 15 penalty kills -- a stretch that has lasted near- RECORD BY MONTH ly five full games. Chicago hasn’t given up a power-play goal since Milwaukee’s Adam Record Win % 15 Helewka struck 2:16 into the March 10 game at Allstate Arena. The penalty-kill unit’s re- October 6-2-0-1 .722 cent excellence has pushed the Wolves into eighth place -- a leap of four spots since Friday morning November 4-5-2-0 .455 -- among the AHL’s 31 teams. San Antonio’s power play has increased markedly as the season has December 10-3-1-0 .750 gone along and sits ninth in the league at 19.8 percent. January 4-4-2-0 .500 February 8-3-0-0 .727 March 6-2-0-2 .700 Left wing Curtis McKenzie has been one of the most productive and most consistent April 0-0-0-0 .000 Wolves since the All-Star Break. In the team’s last 19 games, McKenzie has stacked up 21 nine goals and 12 assists as the Wolves have fashioned a 13-4-0-2 record. He added two IN OVERTIME (8-5) assists in Friday’s win at Texas. When the Wolves and Rampage met last Saturday, he rang up two goals and one assist to earn his third three-point performance of the season. Overall, he has looked Goaltender Saves-Shots SV% Oscar Dansk (4-2) 7-9 .778 remarkably similar to the standout who captained the Texas Stars to the Calder Cup Final last season Max Lagace (4-3) 7-10 .700 and led all goal-scorers during postseason play. The Wolves are outscoring their opponents by 45 goals this season (215-170), which IN THE SHOOTOUT (0-3) trails only Syracuse and Bakersfield for the best goal differential in the AHL. Most of Shooter Goals-Chances SH% 45 that advantage has been piled up during the first period, when Chicago has out- T.J. Tynan 1-3 .333 scored its foes 73-44. Nobody in the AHL is close to that +29 margin. Erik Brännström 0-1 .000 Daniel Carr 0-1 .000 Reid Duke 0-1 .000 With high-scoring right wing Brooks Macek forced to sit out Friday night’s game due Tomas Hyka 0-1 .000 to an injury -- his first absence from the lineup this season -- top line left wing Brooks Macek 0-1 .000 65 Curtis McKenzie becomes the only Wolves player who has suited up for all 65 Stefan Matteau 0-1 .000 games this season. McKenzie never has appeared in all 76 AHL games during his career, but he Brandon Pirri 0-1 .000 played 75 games in 2013-14 during his rookie season with the Texas Stars.