Wolves make it close, but Milwaukee wins 19th in a row
MILWAUKEE — The Wolves took the ice against the Central Division-leading Admirals on Saturday night in Milwaukee.
Rocco Grimaldi had a goal and an assist, Mitch Vande Sompel, Cory Conacher and Cole Schneider also scored for the Wolves but Cal O’Reilly tallied two goals in the third period to lift the Admirals to a 5-4 victory at UW-Milwaukee Arena.
The triumph was the Admirals’ 19th in a row, the second-longest win streak in American Hockey League history. The Wolves dropped their third consecutive contest.
Milwaukee opened the scoring when Cody Hodgson scored on a breakaway late in the first period.
The Wolves tied it at 1-1 a short time later when Vande Sompel took a feed from Kyle Marino and wired a one-timer from above the right circle that sailed past Admirals goaltender Troy Grosenick. Marino and Ryan Wagner earned assists on Vande Sompel’s second goal of the season.
Zach L’Heureux’s power-play goal with less than a second remaining in the opening period gave Milwaukee a 2-1 advantage heading into the intermission.
The Admirals extended the lead to 3-1 on Joakim Kemel’s goal but the Wolves answered right back on Conacher’s fifth goal of the season. The veteran forward got a stick on a blast from Griffin Mendel to redirect the puck by Grosenick. Mendel and Grimaldi recorded helpers on the score that pulled the Wolves to within 3-2.
The Wolves kept coming and tied it midway through the third on Schneider’s goal from in close. The veteran forward gloved a puck out of midair, dropped it at his skates and batted it past Grosenick. Dominic Franco and Cavan Fitzgerald assisted on Schneider’s seventh tally of the season.
O’Reilly then struck for a pair of goals to make it 5-3 Admirals before Grimaldi cut the deficit to a score with an extra attacker on the ice. The veteran fired a shot from the top of the right circle into the back of the net to end the scoring.
Adam Scheel (29 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves while Grosenick (28 saves) earned the win for the Admirals.
Chicago fell to 17-26-3-2 on the season while Milwaukee moved to 36-10-1-0.