Wolves grab early lead in Calder Finals

The remainder of the Calder Cup Finals may have trouble living up to Game 1.

In an all-out offensive affair that featured 70 shots to go along with plenty of drama in the final minutes, the Chicago Wolves prevailed with a 5-4 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Thursday night at the Allstate Arena.

Once leading by as many as 3 goals, the Wolves found themselves defending their net for dear life in the final moments. A penalty and the removal of the Penguins goaltender had the Wolves facing a 6-on-4 disadvantage for the final 1:10.

When that time expired without an equalizing goal, Wolves goalie Ondrej Pavelec raised himself off his knees and threw a punch into the air.

It was the second sigh of relief the Wolves had within a short time. With 2:20 left in the period, it appeared the Penguins had scored the game-tying goal in front of the net. After officials conferred, it was ruled the puck had been kicked into the net.

"It's the Finals," Wolves defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski said. "You can see little things can happen. A called-off goal; it's our bonus. I think it's going to be a hard-fought series. I think it's going to be a good one."

The Wolves certainly hope the rest of the series will be so open offensively.

Although known as one of the league's top defensive teams, the Penguins showed they could be scored upon. In the first period, the Wolves scored three times (Jesse Schultz, Kevin Doell and Jordan LaVallee each with a goal) and nearly had a fourth, but Steve Martins missed a penalty shot.

"For us, that's our bag," Wolves coach John Anderson said. "We are an offensive team and we score goals. Again, if that's the way it's going to be, perfect, that's what we want."

It's not what the Penguins want.

"Our identity all year has been playing defense," Penguins coach Todd Richards. "We gave up 5 goals today."

The Penguins didn't go away, though. They answered with back-to-back goals within the first 2:26 of the second period and cut the lead to 3-2. The Wolves fought back with another goal before the Penguins scored again.

The Wolves went ahead 5-3 in the third period with a goal by Bryan Little, and the Penguins scored one final time.

Pavelec made 30 saves in the win.

Brett Sterling and Joe Motzko, two of the Wolves' top scorers, were kept out of Game 1 with injuries but are expected to return Sunday.