Saturday, March 19, 7:00 p.m. MetroCentre
For the 11th time this season, the Chicago Wolves are playing the same opponent on consecutive days. The Wolves posted a 4-1 victory over the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night in Illinois Lottery Cup action at Allstate Arena, but the scene shifts today to Rockford’s MetroCentre.
The Wolves have not fared well this season when facing the same foe on back-to-back days. During the first 10 occasions, the team has forged a collective 6-12-2-0 mark (.350) and has yet to pull off a sweep. The only other time the Wolves and IceHogs played successive days, Rockford won on Jan. 29 at home and Chicago recovered to earn an overtime win on Jan. 30 at Allstate Arena.
Following Friday’s game, the Wolves and IceHogs ranked 1-2 among Western Conference teams in penalty minutes with 1,059 and 1,040, respectively. It’s fair to say their totals have been enhanced by the number of encounters between the teams.
The teams have combined for 526 penalty minutes in their 10 contests, which accounts for 25.1 percent of their collective PIMs even though they’ve played only 16 percent of their games against each other.
By The Numbers
4: The Wolves are in the middle of their fourth and final 3-in-3 weekend of the season. Chicago went 0-3-0-0 during the first set, 2-1-0 in the second set and 1-1-1-0 in the third set, so the team is 4-5-1-0 to date during 3-in-3s.
24: Defenseman JÉRÉMIE BLAIN turns 24 years old today.
+10: The Wolves have outscored their opponents 88-78 in 31 home games this season.
-38: The Wolves have been outscored 112-74 in 32 road games this season. That ranks 29th in the AHL as the Manitoba Moose have a minus-52 differential on the road.
Follow The Action
Today’s game begins at 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on WCIU The U Too and streamed on www.ahllive.com. Those away from a TV or computer can follow @Chicago_Wolves or @ChiWolvesLive on Twitter for live in-game play-by-play.
