Steve Reinprecht, Eddie Lack lift Wolves into series tie

Chicago Wolves center Steve Reinprecht scored a pair of goals and goaltender Eddie Lack stopped 30 shots in a 3-1 victory over the San Antonio Rampage in Calder Cup Western Conference quarterfinal action Wednesday night at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

The triumph knotted the best-of-five first-round playoff series at 2-2. The Wolves, who have won two straight after dropping the first two games in San Antonio, host the deciding Game 5 on Friday at Allstate Arena at 7:30 p.m.

“I can’t say that is the way we drew it up,” said Wolves coach Craig MacTavish. “But sometimes in playoff hockey you need spectacular goaltending to carry you and Eddie did that for us tonight.”

With the Wolves trailing 1-0 and less than three minutes left in the second period, Reinprecht evened the score with a power-play goal at 17:53. Brad Hunt worked the puck to captain Nolan Baumgartner, who skated into the near circle, faked a shot and slipped a pass to Reinprecht in front of the crease. He redirected the puck past Rampage goalie Dov Grumet-Morris (12 saves).

The Wolves grabbed a 2-1 lead when Reinprecht skated the puck up along the near boards, made a move on a Rampage defenseman in the near circle and flicked a shot on net that snuck under Grumet-Morris’ arm at 12:00 of the third period.

Tim Miller sealed the win an empty-net goal at 19:32.

San Antonio (2-2) had opened the scoring 43 seconds into the game when Jon Matsumoto won a faceoff in the far circle and sent the puck back to Michael Caruso. His shot from the point passed a screened Lack.