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Wolves rally to tame Wild

Philip McRae's goal with 3:48 left lifted the Chicago Wolves to a 3-2 victory over Iowa on Saturday night at Allstate Arena.

Benn Ferriero and Ty Rattie also scored for the Wolves (11-4-3-0), who rallied from a 2-0 deficit in their first home game since Nov. 1. Goaltender Jordan Binnington (6-2-1) stopped 26 shots for the win.

"It was almost identical to (Friday at Milwaukee)," said Wolves coach John Anderson, who earned his 362nd American Hockey League win to pull into a share for fifth place on the all-time list. "Our starts have not been good as of late. I think I know a couple of reasons why. Hopefully we can remedy it tomorrow because we don't have time to fool around because we turn around and play Rockford."

The Wild (4-12-1-0) opened the scoring with center Zach Phillips' power-play goal 2:40 into the game. Michael Keranen controlled the puck below the goal line and steered a pass into the slot for Phillips, who used a toe drag to get away from a defenseman and create an open path to the net for his backhand flip.

The Wild boosted its lead to 2-0 with another power-play goal at 6:48 of the first. Similar to the first score, Tyler Graovac held the puck below the goal line and zipped a pass to defenseman Jonathon Blum for a quick blast from the bottom of the left circle.

The Wolves sliced the margin to 2-1 with 2:29 left in the first period on Ferriero's first goal with the team. McRae knocked the puck behind the Iowa net for Ferriero, who wrapped around and stuffed it inside the right post before Wild goaltender Johan Gustafsson could slide his right skate in the way.

The Wolves pulled even at 8:39 of the second on Rattie's AHL-best 11th goal of the year. Pat Cannone claimed the puck along the end wall, swung out along the right boards and spied Rattie open in the slot for a quick wrister.

Dmitrij Jaskin and David Shields set up McRae's game-winner at 16:12 of the third period. Jaskin controlled the puck behind Iowa's net and delivered it to Shields at the top of the right circle. Gustafsson stopped Shields' snapper, but the rebound went right to McRae outside the crease and he backhanded it into the open net.

Gustafsson (4-8-1) posted 34 saves in the loss.

The Wolves host the Rockford IceHogs today at 4 p.m. in an Illinois Lottery Cup clash.

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