Gameday: Jeannot approaches history

CHICAGO WOLVES (14-3-0-1) AT IOWA WILD (8-9-3-0)

Friday, April 9 | 7 p.m. | Wells Fargo Arena | AHLTV | Facebook Live

JEANNOT APPROACHES HISTORY

The Chicago Wolves opened an extended stretch on the road — eight out of nine games away from home between April 7 and April 26 — with a 4-3 loss Wednesday night to the Rockford IceHogs.

The result snapped the Wolves’ six-game winning streak overall as well as an eight-game winning streak against the IceHogs that stretched back to Feb. 23, 2020.

While the final score wasn’t desirable, Wolves forward Tanner Jeannot continued his climb toward a spot in the franchise’s history books. Early in the second period, the 23-year-old from Saskatchewan set up a Phil Tomasino goal to push his point streak to 12 games. Not only does that rank as the American Hockey League’s top active streak, it ties for the longest Wolves streak since Jason Krog posted a 14-game run (9G, 22A) in 2007-08 on the way to the AHL’s Most Valuable Player award and the Calder Cup championship.

Early in the third period, Tomasino repaid the favor as he delivered a perfect pass to enable Jeannot to score a goal for his eighth game in a row. That ties Jeannot with Wolves all-time goal-scorer Steve Maltais for the second-longest goal streak in franchise annals — as Maltais came through with 10 goals in eight games from Jan. 30 to Feb. 16, 1999.

If Jeannot scores tonight, then he ties Brett Sterling for the Wolves record. Sterling racked up 13 goals over a nine-game stretch from Dec. 2 to Dec. 29, 2006, on his way to AHL Rookie of the Year and First All-Star Team honors.

In addition, a Jeannot goal tonight would tie him with Norfolk’s Tyler Johnson for the longest AHL goal streak over the last 11 seasons. Johnson’s run of nine straight March 3-24, 2002, came during the heart of Norfolk’s professional-hockey record 28-game winning streak.

OTHERS ARE RED-HOT, too

When your team averages an AHL-best 4.44 goals per game — at least one goal per game more than every AHL team except Utica, Syracuse and Cleveland — a lot of guys deserve credit for the offensive prowess.

Rookie forward Dominik Bokk, for example, has reeled off six goals in the last eight games after going without a goal in his first eight professional games in North America. He has become much more aggressive as well — firing 29 shots in his last eight games after taking just 11 shots in his first eight.

Rookie forward Phil Tomasino rides a four-game point streak into tonight’s contest that features one goal and six assists. On the AHL’s rookie scoring list, the 19-year-old shares third place with 18 points (6G, 12A) alongside Ontario’s Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev.

we are the wolves

When the St. Louis Blues hosted the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night, former Wolves played a big role on both sides.

Goaltender Jordan Binnington, who ranks among the top four in Wolves history for wins (59), games (119), saves (3,079) and minutes (6,839), racked up a career-high 50 saves while leading the Blues to a 3-1 victory.

Backing up Binnington’s big night was defenseman Jake Walman, who produced his first NHL goal at 13:31 of the third while playing in his 12th NHL game.
Walman first goal. Walman scored his first AHL goal on April 2, 2017 in his second AHL game.

Binnington would’ve had a shutout, but former Wolves center Nicolas Roy broke it up with 4:16 to play.

last two games

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7: (AT) ROCKFORD 4, CHICAGO 3

• Former Wolves forward Brandon Pirri registered his first AHL hat trick since accomplishing for Chicago at Rockford in Dec. 2018 as the IceHogs snapped the Wolves’ six-game winning streak.
• Forward Tanner Jeannot extended his goal streak to eight games and point streak to 12 while rookie Phil Tomasino posted three points (G, 2A) and Dominik Bokk scored a power-play goal.
• Goaltender Beck Warm stopped 13 shots in his first action since March 13.

SATURDAY, APRIL 3: (at) CHICAGO 4, ROCKFORD 2

• Forward Tanner Jeannot’s power-play goal in the final minute of the second period broke a tie and wound up as the game-winning goal as the Wolves won for the sixth game in a row.
• Forwards Dominik Bokk and David Cotton scored goals to help the Wolves keep pace early, then Jeannot scored for the seventh game in a row and Cole Smith added a late empty-netter.
• Goaltender Devin Cooley posted 31 saves to pick up second win over Rockford in two starts.

By the numbers

1: If the Wolves play all 33 games on their current regular-season schedule, this season will only be 43 percent as long as a normal American Hockey League slate. But after providing that caveat, it’s still impressive that this year’s squad is well on its way to shattering the franchise record for most goals per game. These Wolves have scored 80 goals in 18 games — a league-leading average of 4.44 per outing. The only Wolves team that has averaged more than 4 per game is the 2006-07 crew that paced the AHL with 4.14 per game.

5: Defenseman David Warsofsky wears No. 5, but he’s also riding a five-game point streak that began the last time the Wolves showed up in Des Moines. Warsofsky, the point man on Chicago’s power play, rang up two assists on March 13 and one goal with two assists on March 14 at Iowa. He then missed two games, but has delivered one goal and four assists over the last three games to give him 10 points over his last five games. The younger brother of head coach Ryan Warsofsky also does a weekly star turn on social media as the Wolves share “Warsofsky Wednesdays” episodes that also can be found on the team’s YouTube page.

6: Because the Wolves have been juggling so many players from the Carolina Hurricanes and Nashville Predators organizations, equipment manager Ryan Shoufer has needed to create several new jerseys to accommodate everyone. So far, the Wolves have debuted six new numbers. Rookie forward Patrick Harper (43), defensemen Frederic Allard (46), Alex Carrier (47) and Joakim Ryan (48), rookie forward Phil Tomasino (50) and just-released rookie defenseman Matt Murphy (52) have made history this season by becoming the first to wear those numbers. Prior to this season, the Wolves hadn’t introduced a new uniform number since Jake Chelios was given No. 42 before making his AHL debut on April 11, 2014, at Iowa.

8: When Wolves forward Tanner Jeannot scored Wednesday night at Rockford, it extended his goal streak to eight games. He became just the fifth American Hockey League player since the 2012-13 season to register an eight-game goal streak. He joined the company of Toronto’s Chris Mueller (Feb. 1 to March 17, 2019), Albany’s Mike Sislo (Feb. 6-24, 2016), Grand Rapids’ Teemu Pulkkinen (Dec. 19, 2014, to Jan. 7, 2015) and Charlotte’s Drayson Bowman (Oct. 19 to Nov. 4, 2012).

13: Of the 40 players to compete for the Wolves this season, 13 have played in the NHL this season as well: Frederic Allard, Alex Carrier, Jeremy Davies, Morgan Geekie, Tanner Jeannot, Tyler Lewington, Sean Malone, Max McCormick, Petr Mrazek, Rem Pitlick, Sheldon Rempal, Drew Shore and Cole Smith.

40: The Wolves have played just 18 games, but 40 players already have suited up for at least one game. That’s three more that last year’s squad needed to get through the 61 games before the pandemic brought the season to a permanent halt. This year’s group has a long way to go to set the franchise record for most players used in one season. The 2010-11 crew needed 47 players to complete an 80-game schedule. For those curious about the breakdown between the Wolves’ two NHL partners, the 15 skaters from the Nashville Predators organization have combined for 152 games of action. The 20 skaters from the Carolina Hurricanes organization (including the four signed to Wolves contracts) have combined for 172 games. The Wolves coaching staff split each game down the middle — nine skaters per organization — until injuries and recalls made that impossible. Carolina goaltending prospects have handled all but two games in net.

396: Since the Wolves started playing on Oct. 1, 1994, a total of 687 players have donned the Burgundy and Gold. When defenseman Joakim Ryan made his Wolves debut in Saturday’s 4-2 win over Rockford, he became the 396th player in Wolves history who also has appeared in the NHL. Put another way, 57.6 percent of all Wolves have played in the NHL.

UPCOMING GAMES