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Tale of the Tape: Game 3 of Western Conference Quarterfinals

The Chicago Wolves finally reap the benefit of their Midwest Division championship by returning to Allstate Arena for the remainder of the Western Conference Quarterfinals. The Wolves are 22-1-3-2 (.875) on their home ice since Dec. 8.

GAME 3

No. 7 Rochester Americans (1-1) at No. 2 Chicago Wolves (1-1)
7 p.m. Thursday
Allstate Arena
TV: U-Too 26.2, XFinity 248 and 360, RCN 35, WOW 170
Radio: AHLLive.com

WOLVES   AMERICANS
3.0 (T-3) Goals per game (AHL rank) 3.0 (T-3)
3.0 (T-9) Goals against per game (rank) 3.0 (T-9)
33.5 (7) Shots per game (rank) 30.0 (T-10)
2 of 10 (9) Power plays (rank) 3 of 11 (5)

8 of 11 (12)

Penalty kills (rank) 8 of 10 (8)
1 (T-2) Shorthanded goals (rank) 0 (T-6)
7:29 Regulation time with lead 72:55

RE-SETTING THE SCENE

All four of the Western Conference’s better-seeded teams opted to hit the road last weekend for the first two games of their best-of-five Western Conference Quarterfinals series. While No. 1 Texas, No. 3 Toronto and No. 4 Grand Rapids each swept their pair of games, the Wolves and Americans split in Rochester.

While Wolves coach John Anderson will never become a fan of winning a division and then being “rewarded” by starting a playoff series on the road, that’s not why he believes his team should be happy they escaped Blue Cross Arena with a split. “We didn’t play as good as we should have — or as hard as we should have,” Anderson said. “We were in regular-season mode. They were in postseason mode. “

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

cracknell-adam

Wolves forward Adam Cracknell

After playing five games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the 28-year-old forward was returned on loan to the Wolves on Wednesday afternoon. Cracknell provided 12 goals and 13 assists in just 28 regular-season games for the Wolves before going back to the NHL on April 11. He’ll help the Wolves in all situations, including the power play.

Chad RuhwedelAmericans defenseman Chad Ruhwedel

The 23-year-old rookie from San Diego split the 2013-14 season between Rochester (4 goals, 24 assists in 47 regular-season games) and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres (1 assist in 21 games). He joined Grand Rapids’ Ryan Sproul as the only rookies this spring to score 4 points in the first two games of the Calder Cup playoffs as he delivered a power-play goal in Game 1 and Game 2.