Wolves reach 40-victory mark
The Chicago Wolves led early and never looked back in Sunday's 3-1 victory over the Iowa Stars before 10,105 at the Allstate Arena, becoming the quickest team to 40 wins in franchise history and the second in the American Hockey League this season.
Wolves center Jason Krog added to his AHL-leading 77 points with assists on goals by linemates Alexandre Giroux and Darren Haydar.
Center Jesse Schultz scored a goal for the Wolves (40-13-2-0), who lead the Western Conference with 82 points, the most in franchise history through 55 games.
The Wolves have won five straight against Iowa and six of the seven meetings this season.
Twenty-three seconds into the second period, Haydar scored after Krog wiggled through a crowd and dished a behind-the-back pass that left the Wolves' captain with a wide-open net to make it 2-0.
Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced for his eighth win in his last nine starts. Pavelec, who leads AHL rookies and shares second overall with 23 wins, is 5-0 against Iowa this season.
Giroux made it 1-0 with a power-play goal 9:11 into the game. Giroux stood to the side of the crease and swatted a pass from Krog past Stars goalie Tobias Stephan.
Schultz's goal came on a 2-on-1 break with linemate Brett Sterling at 10:50 of the second period.