The Chicago Wolves (mixed with the Milwaukee Admirals) have been absolutely dominating the AHL to start this once-in-a-lifetime season. The Wolves have moved to 7-0 on the season, which sets a new franchise record for wins to start a season. The Wolves are also showing no signs of slowing down. Let’s recap the last week of games and see how the Nashville Predators’ prospects are doing.
Tuesday February 16 vs. Rockford (Away)
Predators prospects really shined in this contest. Scoring started out very early thanks to forward Anthony Richard (NSH) who scored his first goal of the season only 1:21 into the game. Both of his assists came from fellow Predators prospects Tommy Novak (3) and Jeremy Davies (4).
Ryan Suzuki (CAR) scored his first goal of the season while on the powerplay later in the first period at 12:55. Anthony Richard had his first assist of the season on Suzuki’s goal.
A little over halfway through the second period, superstar in the making, Philip Tomasino (NSH) notched his third goal of his professional career at 13:32 with help from David Cotton (CAR) and Seth Jarvis (CAR). Tomasino’s goal came at even strength.
The third period saw a comeback attempt from the Rockford IceHogs where two goals were scored in less than 20 seconds of each other. At 7:01 Chris Wilkie scored his 2nd goal of the season and then 19 seconds later Isaak Phillips scored his first goal of the season. Chicago netminder Beck Warm turned away all the remaining shots of the match to secure the 3-2 win over Rockford.
Saturday February 20 vs. Iowa Wild (Home)
This matchup was a complete showcase of Chicago’s firepower and dominance. Chicago completely obliterated the Iowa Wild, which plenty of help from Predators prospects. Iowa didn’t score a goal until 4:50 in the third period. Let’s role through all of the goals that took place before Iowa made it to the scoresheet:
19 seconds into the game Morgan Geekie (CAR) scored with assists from Frederic Allard (NSH) and Jeremy Davies (NSH).
At 5:57, Anthony Richard scored his second goal of the season with Tommy Novak (NSH) and Dominik Bokk (CAR).
Ryan Suzuki tallied his second of the season at 6:41 with assists from Jamieson Rees (CAR) and Cole Smith (NSH).
Rem Pitlick popped in his first goal of the night and fourth of the season at 7:26 while on the powerplay, with assists from Morgan Geekie (CAR) and Tanner Jeannot (NSH).
The second period was a continuation of the onslaught. At 1:40, Seth Jarvis (CAR) scored his 5th of the season from Jeannot and Novak. At 2:05, Morgan Geekie scored his second goal of the game with assists from Allard and David Cotton (CAR).
Rem Pitlick scored his second goal of the game at 6:00 into the period. The assist came from Jeannot.
Cole Smith notched his first goal of the season at 8:59 in the second. The period ended with a shorthanded goal from Seth Jarvis (his sixth of the season) at 12:27.
Iowa scored two goals in the first 10 minutes of the third period, but it was way too little way too late. Dmitrii Sokolov scored at 4:50 and Mitch McLain scored at 8:07. Scoring ended at 13:04 with one last goal from the Wolves thanks to Tommy Novak (his 2nd of the season) with assists from Davies and Allard.
Iowa netminder Hunter Jones was kept in for 9 of the goals against and only played the final frame. The final score was 10-2.
Sunday February 21 vs. Iowa Wild (Home)
Iowa’s goaltending had a better showing in the rematch on Sunday, but it was still to no avail as the Wolves extended their season opening winning streak to 7. The Wolve’s Morgan Geekie had both goals of the first period, the latter coming on the powerplay at 18:02 of the first period.
The second period started with a goal from Rem Pitlick (6) less than a minute in. Iowa’s lone goal came at 11:54 from Mason Shaw.
Not much happened in the third period. The match ended with an empty-net goal from Tanner Jeannot with only 4 seconds left in the period. The Wolves secured the 4-1 win.
Game Notes
The Chicago Wolves are obviously a force to be reckoned with this season. So long as Nashville holds off on any major call ups, the Wolves will continue to dominate. The Wolves need to keep an eye out for possible movement from the Predators. The Predators season is going to be tough to reconcile. With possible trade movement, I would expect players like Rem Pitlick to be called out. Perhaps even Tomasino will get a look in the NHL. That would take some serious firepower away from Chicago.
Be sure to check back here on Penalty Box Radio for updates on the Chicago Wolves.
