Chicago Wolves one win away from conference finals

DES MOINES, Iowa - The Chicago Wolves stacked up four goals in the opening 25 minutes to spark a 7-4 victory over the Iowa Wild in Game 5 of the Central Division Finals on Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

Forward Curtis McKenzie delivered the franchise's first hat trick since Jason Krog in Game 6 of the 2008 Calder Cup Finals while Tobias Lindberg, Stefan Matteau, Daniel Carr and Gage Quinney added goals for the Wolves (6-4), who can wrap up the best-of-seven series Monday night at Allstate Arena.

Lindberg opened the scoring at 3:09 when defensemen Kevin Lough's shot from the point deflected off his skate into the net. Iowa's Ryan Donato answered to even the score, but Matteau changed the game's tenor when he took the puck the distance and used his backhand to slide home a shorthanded goal at 18:15.

The Wolves added three goals in the second period as Carr tallied on the power play before McKenzie added a pair of rebound goals - the latter a power-play tally that made it 5-2 with 57 seconds left in the period.

Wolves goaltender Oscar Dansk (5-3) posted 24 saves while Iowa goaltender Andrew Hammond (5-5) stopped 22 shots.