Saturday, Dec. 31 | 3 p.m. | Wells Fargo Arena
Everyone Loves Streaking
Currently, the Chicago Wolves have four players on point streaks. The league’s leading scorer, Kenny Agostino, is amid a six-game point streak that includes a goal and nine assists for 10 points in that span. Center Wade Megan, who shares the AHL lead with 17 goals, is on a point streak of his own. He has registered at least one point in five consecutive tilts and owns six goals and four assists in that stretch. Rookie wing Mackenzie MacEachern and defenseman Petteri Lindbohm are riding two-game point streaks. MacEachern has a goal and an assist while Lindbohm has a goal and two assists in that span.
Beginner’s Luck
The last time the Chicago Wolves and Iowa Wild met, the contest marked rookie wing Mackenzie MacEachern’s second game back after a 15-tilt hiatus due to injury. In that 4-2 victory for the Wolves, MacEachern netted his first professional goal. In the second period, veteran Landon Ferraro and MacEachern broke for a 2-on-1 rush. Ferraro made the initial shot from the right wing, and MacEachern slapped in the rebound chance from the slot at 14:20 of the frame. That tally stood as the game-winner. MacEachern and Wade Megan lead the squad with three game-winning tallies.
Home Away From Home
Last season, the Chicago Wolves took all six games against the Iowa Wild while playing at Wells Fargo Center. Those six contests were the latter half of a 12-game winning streak against Iowa on its home ice, which stands as the franchise record for the Wolves for consecutive victories in an opponent’s home arena. The record began on April 12, 2014. The streak was put to bed on Nov. 18 when the Wolves and Wild faced off at Wells Fargo for the first time during the 2016-17 season as Iowa managed to sneak away with a 3-2 victory. The Wolves found themselves in a 3-0 hole at the midway point of the game and attempted to mount a comeback in the second half but fell short. Tonight, the Wolves come to Des Moines in search of their first W at Wells Fargo Arena since April 15, 2016.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 0: When the Chicago Wolves faced the Iowa Wild for the first time this season at Allstate Arena on Nov. 19, the Wolves and goaltender Pheonix Copley shut out their Central Division foes. In Chicago’s — and Copley’s — only shutout thus far this season, the 24-year-old netminder turned aside 20 of 20 shots to blank Iowa in the teams’ second meeting of the season. In the victory, forward Bryce Gervais collected the second two-goal performance of his career. Andrew Agozzino, Samuel Blais and Wade Megan also tallied in the contest. In all, 13 different skaters got on the scoresheet for the Wolves.
- 5: Saturday night, wing Kenny Agostino is looking to push his point streak to seven games, which would tie his previous — and Landon Ferraro’s — point streak as the longest for any Wolves player this season. In his last six contests, the former Yale University Bulldog owns a goal and nine assists for 10 points. In his previous seven- tilt point stint, Agostino put up three goals and 10 assists for 13 points in that time frame. Through 33 games, the 24-year-old has 10 goals and 28 assists for 38 points to lead the entire American Hockey League in scoring. He has been held off the scoresheet just nine times and has nine multi-point efforts, including a four-assist performance against the Grand Rapids Griffins on Dec. 7. Agostino was just the third AHL player to accomplish the endeavor and first Wolves player since Jason Krog on April 12, 2008.
- 37: On Nov. 19, the Iowa Wild fired just 20 shots at Chicago Wolves goaltender Pheonix Copley and he turned aside all of them. The shutout marked the first of the season for both Copley and the Wolves. In that contest, the Wolves netted five goals, including two markers from forward Bryce Gervais. His two- goal effort was the second of the 24-year-old’s career. For Copley, the tilt was the seventh shutout of his career. In the first period of the teams’ Dec. 3 game at Allstate Arena, the Wolves also set a season record by holding Iowa to just two shots.
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50: Friday night in the Wolves’ 4-3 shootout victory over the Milwaukee Admirals, part-time forward Scooter Vaughan registered his 50th career point. The former University of Michigan Wolverine has 25 goals and 25 assists through 211 games. When he began skating with the Chicago Wolves at the start of the 2015-16 season, Scooter was exclusively a defenseman. However, former Wolves head coach John Anderson began utilizing as a wing and that has carried over into the 2016-17 season under a new coaching staff. Due to injuries and line juggling this season, Vaughan has logged more and more time as a forward as of late.
- 110: Through 33 games the Chicago Wolves have netted 110 goals, which is good enough for third in the 30-team American Hockey League. The total also leads the Central Division. Chicago’s rival across Lake Michigan, the Grand Rapids Griffins, are second in the division with 99 goals to their credit. The Wolves have scored four or more goals in 15 contests this season. That includes a string of six consecutive tilts from Nov. 30 against the Texas Stars to Dec. 11 versus the Griffins. Unfortunately, the Wolves first non-four goal effort to follow up the streak was a lowly 7-1 loss to Grand Rapids.
Weekday Rewind
Friday, Dec. 30 (at) Chicago 4, Milwaukee 3 (SO)
- The Wolves slid by the Admirals for the fourth consecutive Amtrak Rivalry game this season and earned their fourth win in a row overall.
- Goaltender Pheonix Copley stopped 26 shots during regulation and overtime and turned aside all three shooters in the shootout for the victory.
- Wing Kenny Agostino took a penalty in the extra frame that the Wolves killed off, then redeemed himself as the lone scorer in the shootout.
- Forwards Ivan Barbashev, Brett Sterling and Scooter Vaughan all tallied in the win.
Wednesday, Dec. 28 Chicago 6, (at) Rockford 2
- Chicago netted four goals in the middle frame en route to an Illinois Lottery Cup victory over Rockford.
- Center Wade Megan collected his first career hat trick to power the Wolves’ offense.
- Rookie wing Mackenzie MacEachern notched a short-handed marker, defenseman Petteri Lindbohm registered his first goal of the season and Kenny Agostino extended his point streak to five games with a goal and his league-leading 27th assist.
- Rookie netminder Ville Husso turned aside 33 shots for his second victory in three starts.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Saturday night’s game begins at 7:00 p.m. with CW50’s “Saturday Night with the Wolves,” presented by the Illinois Office of Tourism.
The game will also be streamed LIVE on Facebook starting at 7:00 with Jason Shaver and Billy Gardner.
Complete broadcast schedule; all games stream live on AHLLive.com
Join the conversation. Follow @Chicago_Wolves for live game updates.