Wolves rally from deficit three times but fall to Rockford

The Wolves rallied from deficits on three occasions but in the end fell to the Rockford IceHogs 5-4 in a shootout Wednesday night at Allstate Arena.

Rocco Grimaldi had two goals and an assist, Josh Melnick and Max Comtois also scored and Chris Terry chipped in three assists but it wasn’t enough as the Wolves’ losing skid reached seven games. Chicago did pick up a valuable point in the Central Division postseason race with the shootout defeat.

After Nolan Allan put the IceHogs in front with a goal early in the opening period, Grimaldi knotted it just over a minute later with his first of the game. The veteran forward took a pass from Matt Donovan, skated into the Rockford zone and unleashed a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that sailed past goaltender Jaxson Stauber to the glove side. Donovan was awarded the lone assist on the tally.

Rockford regained the lead midway through the first on Rem Pitlick’s power-play score but Grimaldi answered again with the Wolves holding a man advantage. This time, the forward wired a shot from the point that found its way through traffic in front and eluded Stauber. Domenick Fensore and Terry recorded assists on Grimaldi’s team-leading 31st goal of the season.

Late in the first, Brett Seney pushed the IceHogs in front 3-2 with a power-play tally and that’s how it stood heading into the intermission.

The second period was all Wolves.

Melnick’s fifth goal of the season pulled Chicago into a 3-3 tie early on. The forward took a terrific feed from Grimaldi and snapped a one-timer from the high slot by Stauber to the stick side. Grimaldi and Terry had assists.