Chicago Wolves knock off Central Division leader Grand Rapids
The Chicago Wolves took down the top team in the Central Division when they defeated the Grand Rapids Griffins 5-2 on Saturday night at Allstate Arena.
Scott Morrow scored his first hat trick and added an assist, Justin Robidas and Austin Wagner scored and goaltender Dustin Tokarski made 11 saves to lead the Wolves to their second victory in a row and fourth in their last five games. Felix Unger Sorum chipped in with two assists as the Wolves snapped the Griffins’ two-game winning streak and evened the season series at 1-1-0-0.
The Wolves jumped into the lead midway through the opening period on Robidas’ score. The forward took a pass from Tyson Jost all alone in the slot and whipped the puck through the pads of Griffins goaltender Carter Gylander for Robidas’ third goal of the season.
Later in the first, Grand Rapids scored on its first shot on goal when Sheldon Dries found the back of the net to even things at 1-1.
With the clock ticking down, Morrow again put the Wolves ahead when the rookie found space in front and Unger Sorum threaded a pass to the forward who then deked Gylander and tucked the puck past the netminder to the glove side. The goal that came with less than a second remaining in the first was assisted by Unger Sorum and Noel Gunler. The assist extended Gunler’s points streak to six games.
After thoroughly dominating the first period, the Wolves held a 17-1 shot advantage heading into the second.
Midway through Period Two, the Wolves took a 3-1 advantage when Wagner scored his second goal of the season — and second in two games. The forward streaked toward the net and Aleksi Heimosalmi put the puck on Wagner’s stick and he didn’t miss with a shot from in close. In addition to Heimosalmi, Morrow was credited with an assist.
The Wolves didn’t let up in the third and took a 4-1 lead on Morrow’s second of the night. The rookie defenseman snapped a shot from the top of the left circle that sailed by Gylander for Morrow’s fourth goal of the season. Unger Sorum earned his second assist of the game on the play.
Grand Rapids cut the deficit to 4-2 on a goal by Dominik Shine in the late going but Morrow sealed the deal with his third of the game, this time into the empty net. Morrow is the third defenseman to record a hat trick in Wolves history.
Tokarski notched his second win in two nights for the Wolves while Gylander (33 saves) took the loss for the Griffins.
Chicago improved to 7-8-1-0 on the season while Grand Rapids fell to 13-5-1-0.