Tale of the Tape: April 14, 2018 vs. Rockford

• 1: The Chicago Wolves reign supreme as the Central Division’s No. 1 team for the second time in as many seasons. It’s also the just the second time in which the Wolves have earned back-to-back division crowns. They first accomplished the feat as members of the International Hockey League during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. Overall, in the club’s 24-year history, Chicago owns nine division titles, including two in the IHL (1998, 99) and seven in the American Hockey League (2005, 08, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18).

• 3: Forward Beau Bennett registered two points for the second time in five games. The 26-year-old California native is enjoying his best professional campaign with 12 goals and 43 assist for 55 points — all three totals putting his previous career-highs to shame. This season, Bennett has been one of the Chicago Wolves’ best point producers as he owns 15 multi-point games. Seven of those have come in the last 16 games.

• 5: On Friday, center T.J. Tynan netted his fifth short-handed goal of the 2017-18 campaign. That total leads the Chicago Wolves and ranks him second in the league — one behind Springfield’s Anthony Greco. Additionally, his total is more than the league’s leading shortie scorer since the 2015-16 campaign when now-teammate Wade Megan led the American Hockey League with seven short-handed goals. Tynan’s total also shattered his career-best for shorthanded tallies in a season — previously the 26-year—old only owned two shorties and both came during the 2016-17 season.

• 9: Forward Teemu Pulkkinen stretched his point streak to nine games, a career-best for the 26-year-old Finn. Dating back to March 24, Pulkkinen has registered eight goals and five assists for 13 points over that span. His previous eight-game career-high streak — from Dec. 19, 2014 to Jan. 7, 2015 — included nine goals and four assists for 13 points. That run also featured an eight-game goal streak for Pulkkinen.

• 18: The Chicago Wolves closed their 2017-18 road schedule on Friday with the team’s 18th road win of the year. Through 38 games, the Wolves produced an 18-13-5-2 record to give them a .566 points percentage — this marks the 18th season in which Chicago has finished better than .500 on the road.

• 41: With a 4-3 shootout win against the Milwaukee Admirals at UWM Panther Arena on Tuesday, the Chicago Wolves registered the team’s 17th 40-win season in 24 years. Friday night marked the 13th time the Wolves have collected 41 or more victories in a season.

• 62: On Friday, Teemu Pulkkinen collected two goals and an assist for three points. Those points pushed him to a season total of 62 (27G, 35A), a new single-season careerhigh. His previous best points performance came during the 2014-15 campaign when he owned 61 and led the American Hockey League with 34 goals. This season, Pulkkinen is the Wolves’ leading point-getter and is second in goal-scoring with 27 tallies. The native of Finland is a pretty even-keel point collector: he owns 109 goals and 110 assists through 239 AHL games. Pulkkinen leads the Chicago Wolves in points and shares the No. 7 spot in the league.

Game Rewind

Saturday, April 13 Chicago 6, (at) Rockford 4

• The Wolves secured back-to-back Central Division titles with a victory over the IceHogs.
• Forwards Teemu Pulkkinen and T.J. Tynan each netted two goals while Keegan Kolesar and Zac Leslie accounted for Chicago’s other two tallies.
• Goaltender Oscar Dansk earned an assist on the game-winning goal and made 32 saves.

Tuesday, April 10 Chicago 4, (at) Milwaukee 3 (SO)

• Chicago scored twice in a five-round shootout to finish the 12-game season series with Milwaukee on a winning note.
• Defenseman Jake Bischoff and forwards Teemu Pulkkinen and Paul Thompson accounted for the Wolves’ regulation goals.
• Birthday boy Brandon Pirri and defenseman Philip Holm scored in the shootout while Trevor Smith was the Admirals’ lone scorer.
• Goaltender Oscar Dansk made 24 saves through 65 minutes and stopped four of five shootout attempted in the victory.