Wolves fall to Coachella Valley

The Chicago Wolves dropped a 5-2 decision to the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Sunday in Palm Desert, Calif.

Aleksi Heimosalmi and Nick Swaney had goals but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Wolves from being swept by the Firebirds in back-to-back games. Nikita Pavlychev chipped in with two assists in Chicago’s third loss in a row.

Heimosalmi got the Wolves off to a strong start when he found the back of the net midway through the opening period. The blue liner wended his way through two Firebirds defenders and flicked a backhander from between the circles that sailed past Coachella Valley netminder Nikke Kokko to the glove side. Pavlychev and Ronan Seeley recorded assists on Heimosalmi’s fourth goal of the season.

The Firebirds knotted the score at 1-1 late in the first when Logan Morrison cashed in on the power play.

Early in the second, Swaney’s first goal of the season put the Wolves ahead 2-1. The veteran forward pounced on a rebound of a Felix Unger Sorum shot and banged it home from in close. Unger Sorum and Pavylchev earned assists.

Coachella Valley seized the lead on scores by Brandon Biro and Daniel Sprong just 1 minute, 1 second apart to close out the second period.

In the third, the Firebirds were awarded another power play early on and Ben Meyers converted to make it 4-2 Coachella Valley.

The Wolves had a power play of their own midway through the third and pulled goaltender Ruslan Khazheyev to skate six-on-four. The move backfired as Lleyton Roed scored into the empty net for a shorthanded marker and a three-goal Firebirds advantage.

Khazheyev (23 saves) took the loss in goal for the Wolves while Kokko (33 saves) picked up the win for the Firebirds.

Chicago fell to 17-13-2-0 on the season while Coachella Valley moved to 19-12-1-4.