Wolves rally, but fall to Iowa
Despite scoring two shorthanded goals, the Chicago Wolves fell to the Iowa Wild 3-2 on Tuesday at Allstate Arena.
Josiah Slavin and Domenick Fensore each had goals — both coming with the Wolves killing a penalty — but in the end, Iowa skated to the victory when Kyle Masters notched the third-period game-winner. The loss was the Wolves’ fourth in a row while the Wild snapped a seven-game losing skid to start the 2024-25 American Hockey League season.
Ryan Sandelin found the back of the net in each of the first two periods to stake the Wild to a 2-0 advantage heading into the third.
That’s when the Wolves came alive as they skated shorthanded following a penalty to Aleksi Heimosalmi early in the period. First, Slavin stuffed the puck past Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt from in close to pull the Wolves within a goal. The unassisted marker was Slavin’s first of the season.
The Wolves kept coming and tied it 1 minute, 28 seconds later — still while killing the Heimosalmi penalty — on Fensore’s first tally of the season. The defenseman scooped up a loose puck and shoveled a backhander by Wallstedt to the glove side. Skyler Brind’Amour picked up an assist on the play.
The Wild regained the lead midway through the third on Masters’ tally and that proved to be the final margin.
Ruslan Khazheyev (23 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves in his AHL debut while Wallstedt (16 saves) earned the victory
Chicago dropped to 1-4-1-0 on the season while Iowa improved to 1-6-1-0. The Wolves’ next game is 7 p.m. Saturday in Rockford to face the IceHogs.