Wolves Break Tie, Slip Past IceHogs
The Chicago Wolves broke a 1-1 stalemate with four unanswered goals en route to grabbing a 5-1 win over the Rockford IceHogs at the Rockford MetroCentre Sunday night.
Forwards Fredrik Pettersson (G, A), Riley Holzapfel and Ryan Garbutt and defensemen Paul Postma and Arturs Kulda lit the lamp for the Wolves, while goaltender Edward Pasquale (8-6-1) stopped 38 of 39 shots in the win.
Chicago (35-25-3-6) opened scoring with a power-play strike, 5:37 into the game. Postma fired a shot from the right faceoff circle through traffic, beating Rockford goaltender Hannu Toivonen, glove side.
Rockford (27-30-4-5) knotted the score at one when right wing Ben Smith redirected a shot from defenseman Ryan Stanton at the doorstep past Pasquale 6:42 into the first frame.
Pettersson made the score 2-1 in favor of the Wolves, 3:39 into the second period. The forward skated into the slot and ripped a shot past Toivonen, top shelf.
Chicago pulled to 3-1, 7:13 into the middle frame when right wing Spencer Machacek fed the puck to Kulda, allowing the blueliner to one-time a shot into the back of the net.
Holzapfel brought Chicago's lead to 4-1 when he took a pass in the slot and flicked the puck over Toivonen, 1:39 into the final frame.
The Wolves sealed their 5-1 victory 12:39 into the third frame when Garbutt came streaking down the ice and flipped a backhanded shot past Toivonen.
Toivonen (14-14-4) blocked 24 shots for Rockford.
The Wolves return to the Allstate Arena to face the Oklahoma City Barons Sat., March 19 at 7 p.m.
Chicago 1 2 2 -- 5
Rockford 1 0 0 -- 1
First Period---1, Chicago, Postma 12 (Krog, Haydar), 5:37 pp; 2, Rockford, Smith 15 (Stanton, Klinkhammer), 6:42. Penalties---Garbutt, Chicago (slashing). 3:02; Hagel, Rockford (interference), 5:21; Brennan, Chicago (fighting), 5:43; Brookbank, Rockford (fighting), 5:43; Bench, Chicago (too many men), 13:57; Klinkhammer, Rockford (tripping), 18:31; Deveaux, Chicago (holding), 19:07.
Second Period---3, Chicago, Pettersson 9 (Esposito), 3:39; 4, Chicago, Kulda 5 (Machacek, Pettersson), 7:13. Penalties---Pirri, Rockford, (interference), 5:03; Welch, Chicago (tripping), 8:33.
Third Period---5, Chicago, Holzapfel 9 (Krog, Zubarev), 1:39; 6, Chicago, Garbutt 17 (Miller, Kulda), 12:39. Penalties---Sifers, Chicago (tripping), 10:13; Huxley, Chicago (fighting), 14:29; Hagel, Chicago (fighting), 14:29.
Shots on goal---Chicago: 8-10-11--29. Rockford: 9-15-15--39. Power plays---Chicago: 1-3. Rockford: 0-5. Goalies--Chicago, Pasquale (38-39). Rockford, Toivonen (24-29). A---5,642. Referee---Jarrod Ragusin. Linesmen---Mike Hamilton and Jesse Pletsch.
