Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018 | 3:00 p.m. | Allstate Arena | NHL Network
Allstate Redux
Sunday marks the second of four consecutive games between the Chicago Wolves and Cleveland Monsters that happen at Allstate Arena. So far, the Wolves are on par with last season’s home performance against the Monsters with a 5-3 victory on Jan. 3. Last season, Chicago was 3-1-2-0 against the Monsters at Allstate Arena. The Wolves and Monsters opened this season’s series with a pair of games at Quicken Loans Arena in December and they’ll close with two there in March.
Wolves on NHLN
Sunday’s Chicago Wolves and Cleveland Monsters game will be broadcast nationally on NHL Network. The contest is the second in a set of Chicago games selected as part of the NHLN package. Previously, the Wolves’ Dec. 17 game against the Milwaukee Admirals aired on NHLN. Chicago netted three consecutive goals for a 4-2 win against the long-time rival Admirals on national television. The broadcast will again be conducted by executive producer Ron Storto and voiced by play-by-play announcer Jason Shaver and color analyst Bill Gardner.
Tynan Rising
Forward T.J. Tynan is just 10 points shy of hitting the 40-point benchmark for the fourth consecutive season. In his fourth full season of professional hockey, the 25-year-old Tynan reaps the benefit of setting up his teammates. Through 268 games, the Orland Park native owns 39 goals and 126 assists for 165 career points — 76.4 percent of Tynan’s career points are assists. On Saturday, Tynan collected four assists to bring his season point total to 30. The four-point performance was the first of his career and his fifth multi-point effort of the season.
Garrison Returns
On Saturday, veteran defenseman Jason Garrison returned to the Chicago Wolves on loan from the Vegas Golden Knights. The Golden Knights recalled the 33-year-old on Tuesday ahead of the team’s showdown with the Predators in Nashville. Garrison was a scratch for that contest as well as Vegas’ Thursday game against the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning. The White Rock, British Columbia, native returned on Saturday in time to dress for the game against the Bakersfield Condors, who were visiting Allstate Arena for the first time since they joined in the AHL in 2015
By the Numbers:
- 1: On Saturday, 25-year-old defenseman Kevin Lough netted his first career AHL goal. The tally came just 2:10 into the contest against the Bakersfield Condors and captain Paul Thompson set Lough up for the score. Previously, Lough owned five assists that all came while he was wearing a Wolves sweater. In his debut with the team on Dec. 6 against the San Diego Gulls, Lough picked up his first two AHL points to help Chicago to a 3-1 victory. Lough joined the team on a professional tryout contract in December, but the team announced on Jan. 18 they had signed the Kanata, Ontario, native to a standard player contract.
- 7: Mackenzie MacEachern joined the Chicago Wolves’ short-handed goal-scorer club on Saturday and pushed the team’s season shortie total to seven. That number puts them in a five-way tie for second-most short-handed tallies in the league. The Syracuse Crunch lead all 30 AHL teams with nine shorties. MacEachern is one of five short-handed goal scorers for the Wolves this year. T.J. Tynan leads the pack with three tallies while Tobias Lindberg, MacEachern, Brandon Pirri and Paul Thompson each have one.
- 11: Forward Tomas Hyka, who handed out two assists Saturday night, has been on a roll in the month of January. The 2018 AHL All-Star has accrued two goals and nine assists for 10 points through nine games since Jan. 1. The 24-year-old Czech Republic native has twice registered three-point performances. His first three-point effort came Jan. 3 when he collected a goal and two assists to help the Chicago Wolves throttle the Monsters 5-3 at Allstate Arena. Hyka also nabbed three assists on Jan. 12 against the Bakersfield Condors at Rabobank Arena. The Wolves are 11-5-1-1 when Hyka picks up at least one point
- 14: The last time the Chicago Wolves and Cleveland Monsters faced off, the Wolves were nearing the end of their 14-game franchise-tying point streak. Cleveland was the team against which Chicago kicked off its point streak with a 3-0 shutout on Dec. 9 in the second contest of back-to-back contests at Quicken Loans Arena. The teams again competed on Jan. 3 when the Monsters made their first appearance of the season at Allstate Arena.
- 20: On Saturday, the Chicago Wolves recorded their 20th win of the season. The Wolves are only three wins behind last season’s pace. Through 42 games during the 2016- 17 campaign, the Wolves owned a 23-14-3-2 (.607) record while this season the club has procured a 20-15-5-2 (.560) record. Last season’s crew enjoyed similar success in the month of December that the Wolves saw this year. As a matter of fact, the Wolves of December 2016 and December of 2017 collected identical 9-2-2-1 records in the final 31 days of the calendar.
- 23: This season, the Chicago Wolves lead the league in games decided by one goal. Twenty-three times through Chicago’s first 42 games have the contests come down to a one-goal difference — that’s 54.8 percent of the games. Additionally, 10 of those have needed extra time to crown a victor. Only twice have the Wolves gone to the shootout and three times they’ve been the winner when extra time is needed. This season, the Wolves have a 3-5 record during the five-minute 3-on-3 overtime and 0-2 in the shootout.
Game Review
Saturday, Jan. 20 (at) Chicago 6, Bakersfield 1
- Chicago upended Bakersfield to sweep the two-game season series.
- Forward T.J. Tynan collected four assists while forward Tomas Hyka registered two helpers.
- Center Brandon Pirri netted two goals while fellow forwards Stefan Matteau, Wade Megan and Mackenzie MacEachern (SHG) also scored.
- Defenseman Kevin Lough opened the scoring with his first career AHL goal.
- Goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo made 22 saves for his eighth victory of the season.
Wednesday, Jan. 17 (at) Iowa 5, Chicago 2
- The Wolves fell to the Wild for just the second time in regulation at Wells Fargo Arena since the teams began competing during the 2013-14 campaign.
- Veteran forward Brett Sterling netted both Chicago goals to give him 350 career points while wearing a Wolves sweater.
- Goaltender Max Lagace (9 saves) left the game near the end of the second period and Kasimir Kaskisuo (8 saves) replaced him and picked up the loss.
FOLLOW. LISTEN. WATCH.
Watch on NHL Network Listen on Facebook Live Watch on AHL LIVEHEAD-TO-HEAD RECORDS
2017-18 Series
2-1-0-0
LAST MEETING
Jan. 3, 2018
All-Time
29-18-5-2
SERIES GAME-BY-GAME
| Date | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 12/08/2017 | Quicken Loans Arena | L, 3-2 |
| 12/09/2017 | Quicken Loans Arena | W, 3-0 |
| 01/03/2018 | Allstate Arena | W, 5-3 |
| 01/21/2018 | Allstate Arena | |
| 02/15/2018 | Allstate Arena | |
| 02/18/2017 | Allstate Arena | |
| 03/20/2018 | Quicken Loans Arena | |
| 03/22/2018 | Quicken Loans Arena |
