The Chicago Wolves are in the middle of the AHL Western Conference playoff race, which explains their play against the teams ahead of them in the standings. Chicago is in fourth place in the west with 76 points, only 7 points out of eighth. Ahead of them in the standings are Grand Rapids, Texas, and Toronto, the division leaders.
It would be tough to imagine Chicago jumping any of those three teams in the standings. Division and Conference-leading Grand Rapids is eight points ahead of the Chicago Wolves, and have been the better team all season. The team has played well against the lower seeded team in the west, but if the Wolves want any chance of making a deep playoff run, they need to beat the best to get out of the west.
“We gotta play as good as we can to keep our heads above water,” said Chicago Wolves head coach John Anderson.
Chicago plays one more game against the Grand Rapids Griffins. The season match ups against Texas and Toronto have been finished. Chicago can pad their fourth spot lead with nine games against the Milwaukee Admirals and Rockford IceHogs. They sit in the seventh and eighth seeds, respectively.
The Texas Stars were in town for back-to-back games on March 15th and 16th, and Texas won both games. Chicago is 4-7-2 against division leaders heading into the final month of the season.
Left winger Dmitrij Jaskin was recalled by the St. Louis Blues prior to the March 16th game. Blues left winger Vladimir Tarasenko expected to miss six weeks because of surgery on his right hand. Jaskin has 15 goals and 29 points in 42 games for the Chicago Wolves.
Defenseman David Shields will be lost for at least two to three weeks, according to Anderson.
Sergey Andronov played his first game with the team since February 7. He assisted on the Wolves’ first goal of the game March 16.
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