Wolves roll to 6-3 victory

SAN ANTONIO — A flurry of first-period goals set up the Chicago Wolves for a Texas-sized victory Tuesday night as they topped the San Antonio Rampage 6-3 at AT&T Center.

Zack Kassian, Ludwig Blomstrand, Andrew Gordon, Brad Hunt, Brett Sterling and Darren Haydar all notched scores for the Wolves (33-24-5-4), who pulled into a share of eighth place with Milwaukee in the Western Conference playoff chase.

Goaltender Matt Climie (20-20-3) stopped 28 of 31 shots for the Wolves as they won in San Antonio for the first time since Jan. 15, 2010.

Kassian was one of the two players who returned to the Wolves from Vancouver before Tuesday’s game, and he wasted no time making his presence felt. He scored just 13 seconds into the game for the fastest opening goal by the Wolves this season, four seconds shy of the franchise record owned by Tim Stapleton and Tim Miller.

Left wing Blomstrand scored his first goal in North America, a rebound of a save by Rampage goalie Dov Grumet-Morris, to extend the Wolves lead at 2:53.

Just as Chicago was starting to find its offensive rhythm, a defensive breakdown in its own zone led to Rampage right wing Anthony Luciani capitalizing with his first score of the season at 3:25 and bringing San Antonio within 2-1.

Gordon, the other player back with the Wolves after an NHL stint, also found his stride early as he knocked in a puck on Grumet-Morris at the 4:02 mark with helpers from Sterling and Adam Polasek.

Then it was Gordon’s turn to set up a score as he battled the Rampage on the boards and set up defenseman Hunt’s third goal of the season to make it 4-1 Wolves 13:30 into the first period.

San Antonio (29-31-1-6) swapped out Grumet-Morris for Brian Foster following that goal, but it did little to slow the Wolves as the second period opened and Sterling (1 goal, 3 assists) ripped a slap shot through traffic and into Foster’s mesh at 6:37.

Rampage center Scott Timmins and defenseman Zach Miskovic, who was traded from the Wolves to San Antonio earlier this season, each pocketed goals on Climie in the third, but Haydar’s empty-net marker at 18:13 wrapped up the scoring.

The Wolves continue their six-game road trip Friday at 7 p.m. Friday against the Houston Aeros.