Wolves' Winning Streak Ends
The Chicago Wolves' early lead didn't hold up as the Grand Rapids Griffins reeled off five unanswered goals for a 5-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Allstate Arena.
Left wing Yannick Veilleux scored for the Wolves (26-19-5-1), who saw their four-game winning streak come to a close.
"We had some opportunities, but we weren't good on our opportunities," said Wolves head coach John Anderson. "We were missing nets, hitting sticks. Give them credit. I thought they were in control of the game tonight."
The Wolves opened the scoring with Veilleux's wrister at 9:44 of the first period just after their first power play expired. Adam Burish and Philip McRae battled to claim the puck along the goal line before Burish found Veilleux open in the slot. Veilleux took a moment to settle the puck and sizzled a shot between Grand Rapids goaltender Jared Coreau's pads for his first goal since Nov. 15.
Grand Rapids (27-17-5-1) pulled even at 16:51 when Teemu Pulkkinen, the American Hockey League's leading scorer, swiped the puck from a Wolves forward inside the blue line and dashed the length of the ice on a breakaway for his 30th goal of the season.
The Griffins took a 2-1 lead at 9:41 of the second when center Andreas Athanasiou snapped a shot from the left dot that Wolves goaltender Jordan Binnington deflected, but not enough to prevent it from finding a home in the net.
Grand Rapids boosted its advantage to 3-1 at 10:37 of the third period on center Mark Zengerle's goal from just outside the right side of the crease. His first attempt banged off the post, but he had enough time and space to recover and flip his next attempt over the prone Binnington.
Marek Tvrdon authored an insurance goal with 2:44 to play when he raced through the neutral zone and blasted home a slap shot from the left faceoff dot. Anthony Mantha added an empty-net tally with 21 seconds to go.
Binnington (17-10-3) stopped 24 of 28 shots while tying the franchise record by making his 13th consecutive start. Coreau (12-6-1) posted 25 saves in the win.
The Wolves continue their seven-game homestand with a pair of games next weekend against the San Antonio Rampage.
-- Chicago Wolves
