Wolves rally to get first victory
The Chicago Wolves rallied from a 4-2 third-period deficit with three straight goals to collect their first win of the season, 5-4, over the Rockford IceHogs at the Allstate Arena Wednesday night.
Center Matt Anderson scored 2 goals, including the game-winner with 3:11 left in the third period. Rylan Kaip worked the puck out from the boards behind the net to Andrew Kozek, who centered it for Anderson, who banged it home to give Chicago a 5-4 lead.
Rookie defenseman Paul Postma posted a team season-high 3 points (G, 2A) - his first goal as a pro - while right wing Tim Stapleton (G, A) also notched a multiple-point outing.
Goaltender Manny Legace (1-0-0) posted 31 saves to pick up the win in his Wolves debut.
"We played without fear, and it was tough to do that in this game," said Wolves Head Coach Don Granato. "It was great to see the guys respond the way they did and not tighten up when they got behind. We'll take this win and move forward."
Trailing, 4-2, just over five minutes into the third period, Chicago (1-3-0-0) responded with a power-play tally from Spencer Machacek to pull back within one goal. After failing to get any shots past Rockford goaltender Corey Crawford during a five-on-three power play, Machacek pounced on a rebound and hacked at it until he beat Crawford for the five-on-four power-play goal.
Postma knotted the score, 4-4, with 12:54 left to play when he cranked a blast from the blueline that evaded Crawford and earned him his first professional goal.
Crawford (1-2-0) turned aside 33 shots for Rockford.
Chicago jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, 11:39 into the game, with a power-play tally from Anderson. Crawford stopped defenseman Steve McCarthy's shot from the near circle, but gave up a rebound, which Anderson collected and batted past Crawford.
The lead was short-lived, as Rockford (2-2-1-0) answered just 31 seconds later. The IceHogs broke down the ice one a two-on-one rush, which was stifled by Legace, but right wing Danny Bois was there to finish it, slipping in and pushing the puck past the diving Legace.
Rockford needed only five seconds of its first power play to take the lead, 2-1. Defenseman Brian Connelly sent a long pass from near the blue line across to center Mark Cullen in the right face-off circle, which Cullen fired past Legace with 2:28 remaining in the period.
The Wolves clawed back to a 2-2 tie with a marker from Stapleton at 11:32 of the second period. The Chicago native was parked at the goal mouth when the puck came saucering over, and turned and batted it out of the air past Crawford.
Rockford wasted no time regaining the lead, 3-2, at the 14-minute mark when Akim Aliu gained control of the puck in the IceHogs zone and streaked down towards the Wolves goal before firing a shot past Legace.
The IceHogs increased their edge to 4-2 with 1:51 into the third period with a wrap-around goal from Rob Klinkhammer, who stole the puck behind the Wolves net and stuffed it between Legace and the post.
The Wolves and IceHogs will match up again at the Rockford MetroCentre on Friday at 7 p.m.