2020-21 Chicago Wolves Game Notes CHICAGO AT CLEVELAND APRIL 24, 2021 3 P.M. AHLTV.COM ON THE ROAD AGAIN 2020-21 After playing four games on the road at Rockford and Iowa, the Chicago Wolves thought they would TALE OF THE TAPE get a respite with a home game against the IceHogs on Wednesday night. Once that contest was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns, the Wolves find them back on the road for four more. REGULAR-SEASON SERIES 2-0-0-0 Cleveland | 0-1-0-1 Chicago If the Wolves get to play all four games (no sure thing in the pandemic), then this eight-game run LAST MEETING March 6, 2021 will mark the franchise’s longest stretch of consecutive road games since the 2014-15 season. That’s when head coach John Anderson’s crew visited Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Iowa, Utica, Rochester and Adirondack Nov. 2-21 and posted a 5-3-1 record. This weekend’s trip offers the Central Division-leading Wolves a chance to turn the tables on the 11-7-1-0 15-4-0-2 Monsters. When Cleveland visited the Wolves Training Facility on March 5-6, the Wolves owned an 8-1- 0-0 record before suffering a 4-3 shootout loss and a 3-1 defeat to the Monsters. SERIES LEADERS The Wolves’ offensive attack has been bolstered by the return of 19-year-old forward Phil Tomasino CLEVELAND CHICAGO (7 goals, 13 assists), who has rejoined the team after a week on the Nashville Predators’ taxi squad. He Skater G A Pts Skater G A Pts ranks third among all AHL rookies in scoring. Angle 2 1 3 Allard 1 1 2 x Peeke 0 3 3 Lajoie 1 1 2 Helewka 2 0 2 Tomasino 0 2 2 ALL THAT HAVING BEEN SAID... Simpson 1 1 2 Bokk/Suzuki 1 0 1 The Wolves are in the midst of their roughest defensive stretch of the year as measured by goals allowed. Chicago has surrendered four goals in each of its last four games — all of them on the road. SERIES GAME-BY-GAME However, it’s helpful to provide some context with regards to these 16 goals. Four have come with Date Location Result SF-SA PP PK opponents on the power play, yet the Wolves have killed 80 percent of their short-handed situations March 5 Wolves Training Facility SOL, 3-4 39-24 0-5 2-3 (16 of 20). Two came in the waning minutes when the other team, trailing by one, pulled its goaltender March 6 Wolves Training Facility L, 1-3 43-33 0-2 2-3 to add an extra attacker and set up a 6-on-5 advantage. One was added to the overall total when April 24 Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Rockford won Saturday night’s shootout. April 25 Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse 3 p.m. That leaves just nine goals in 5-on-5 situations. The Wolves, meanwhile, scored eight goals at even ALL-TIME RECORD BREAKDOWN strength over the same stretch. Seasons Home Road Overall ...STRENUOUS STRETCH AHEAD 2007-21 49-22-5-3 28-37-5-6 77-58-10-9 Over the first 78 days of this unique 2021 season, the Wolves played 21 games — an average of just 2.15 games per eight days. That sounds like a stroll in the park compared to what’s ahead over the WE ARE THE WOLVES next eight days. Twenty-five years and four days ago, the Chicago Wolves earned their first playoff victory with a 4-1 Today’s game marks the first of six between now and May 1 — far and away the most jam-packed decision over the San Francisco Spiders at the Cow portion of the Wolves’ 2021 schedule. What spawned this? A pair of postponed games against Grand Palace. Rapids. Neither the April 26 nor the April 29 date with the Griffins was on the original schedule — and the latter contest has been postponed three times. Rob Brown earned First Star honors on April 20, 1996, as he assisted on all four Wolves goals during LAST TWO GAMES Game 2 of the International Hockey League’s Western SATURDAY, APRIL 17 (AT) ROCKFORD 4, CHICAGO 3 (SO) Conference Quarterfinal. • Rockford’s Tim Soderlund and Brandon Pirri scored in the first two rounds in the shootout to give Dan Currie took Second Star honors with a pair of the IceHogs the extra point on their home ice. goals while Steve Maltais and Tim Breslin each • Rookie forward Cole Smith earned his first professional two-goal game while rookie forward contributed one goal and one assist. Wendell Young David Cotton added a goal and defenseman David Warsofsky handed out two assists. picked up the win in goal with a 23-save performance. • Goaltender Connor Ingram stopped 37 shots during regulation and overtime. SATURDAY, APRIL 10 CHICAGO 5, (AT) IOWA 4 (OT) After three days off to travel home, the Wolves earned • Center Sean Malone knocked in a rebound of Jamieson Rees’ shot 1:43 into overtime to give the their first playoff win in Rosemont 25 years ago today. Wolves the victory at Wells Fargo Arena and reclaim the best record in the AHL. • The Wolves fell behind 2-0, but forwards Anthony Richard, Phil Tomasino, Dominik Bokk and Young rejected 37 shots (and earned an assist) in Sheldon Rempal reeled off four consecutive goals to build a 4-2 lead in the third. Chicago’s 3-1 victory while Breslin, Brown and Currie • Goaltender Antoine Bibeau rejected 35 shots in regulation to earn the win. produced the goals. 2020-21 Chicago Wolves Game Notes 2020-21 BY THE NUMBERS HOME-ROAD CONTRASTS Regular Season Home Away Difference For almost the entire season, the Wolves have ranked No. 1 in the American Hockey League Goals For 4.82 3.60 1.22 in scoring. Chicago owns 89 goals in 21 games, which works out to 4.24 goals per game. The Goals Against 2.36 3.20 0.84 1 Cleveland Monsters, whom the Wolves face twice this weekend, have surged recently and stand second with 3.84 goals per game. If the Wolves maintain their scoring pace for their final 12 RECORD BY OPPONENT regular-season games, they’ll shatter the franchise record for goals per game. The only Wolves team Record Win % that has averaged more than 4 per game is the 2006-07 crew that paced the AHL with 4.14 per game. Cleveland 0-1-0-1 .250 Grand Rapids 4-1-0-0 .800 Prior to this season, the Wolves hadn’t introduced a new uniform number since the 2013- Iowa 5-1-0-0 .833 14 season: when Jake Chelios was given No. 42 before making his AHL debut on April 11, Rockford 6-1-0-1 .813 8 2014, at Iowa. But this year has featured so many different players coming through the Wolves organization — a combination of COVID-19 protocols and the Wolves serving as partners with RECORD BY MONTH the Carolina Hurricanes AND Nashville Predators — equipment manager Ryan Shoufer has worked Record Win % overtime to accommodate everyone. So far, the Wolves have debuted eight new jersey numbers. The February 8-1-0-0 .889 March 4-1-0-1 .750 latest came last Saturday when rookie forward Zach Solow wore 53 and PTO signee Diego Cuglietta April 3-2-0-1 .583 donned 54. They joined rookie forward Patrick Harper (43), defensemen Frederic Allard (46), Alex May 0-0-0-0 .000 Carrier (47) and Joakim Ryan (48), rookie forward Phil Tomasino (50) and rookie defenseman Matt Murphy (52) in making Wolves history. IN OVERTIME (1-0) Defenseman David Warsofsky handed out two assists in last Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss at Rockford, which gave him 11 assists in 11 games this season. He’s the only Goaltender Saves-Shots (3-3) SV% Antoine Bibeau (1-0) 3-3 1.000 11 defenseman who’s averaging at least 1 assist per game this season (minimum 10 assists). Connor Ingram (0-0) 5-5 1.000 If we dropped that minimum to 9, then he’d be joined on the list by former Wolves defenseman Jeremy Davies, who rang up 9 assists in 9 games before being recalled by the Nashville Predators, for whom he has contributed 1 assist and a +1 plus/minus rating in his first 15 NHL games. IN THE SHOOTOUT (0-2) Forward Tanner Jeannot scored Monday night against the Chicago Blackhawks to earn Shooter Goals-Chances (0-5) SH% his second NHL goal in five games since being recalled by Nashville (NHL). In essence, Dominik Bokk 0-1 .000 12 Jeannot has maintained the hot streak he built with the Wolves. The 23-year-old holds Patrick Harper 0-1 .000 Tommy Novak 0-1 .000 a 12-game point streak (10G, 11A), which ranks as the longest active streak in the AHL. Jeannot also David Cotton 0-2 .000 owns the AHL’s fifth eight-game goal streak since the 2012-13 season. If Jeannot suits up for the Wolves again, he can tie Brett Sterling’s franchise record for the longest goal streak. Sterling Goaltender Saves-Shots (2-5) SV% produced 13 goals during his nine-game spree from Dec. 2 to Dec. 29, 2006. Jeannot also can tie the Antoine Bibeau (0-1) 2-3 .667 AHL’s longest streak over the last nine years. Norfolk’s Tyler Johnson reeled off a nine-game goal Connor Ingram (0-1) 0-2 .000 streak March 3-24, 2012.