Wolves blank Texas
The Chicago Wolves wrapped up a set of three games in three days by defeating the Texas Stars 4-0 on Sunday at Allstate Arena.
Goaltender Spencer Martin was brilliant in net, earning his third shutout of the season, while Justin Robidas and Austin Wagner each had a goal and an assist and Bradly Nadeau and Nick Swaney also scored to propel the Wolves to their second win in a row.
The first period remained scoreless, with Texas outshooting Chicago 18-8 behind Martin's strong start between the pipes.
The game remained tightly contested in the second with Martin and Stars netminder Magnus Hellberg defending both nets before a lucky bounce broke the tide, thanks to the Wolves' leading goal-scorer.
With 23 seconds remaining in the opening period, behind a Nadeau aggressive forecheck, Stars forward Matej Blumel retrieved a loose puck in his own zone and tried to force a pass to the middle of the ice but the outlet redirected off Nadeau's skate blade and fluttered past Hellberg for the icebreaker. Nadeau's second-period unassisted tally was his 22nd of the season.
Swaney added a third-period insurance goal midway through the third on the power play to push Chicago's lead to two. Nikita Pavlychev threaded a pass through the neutral zone to an uncovered Noel Gunler on the left boards and he saucered a pass to a streaking Swaney in the high slot. Swaney took a few strides and snapped a shot that fooled Hellberg. Gunler and Pavlychev earned assists on Swaney's eighth goal of the season.
Robidas added to the lead with his 14th marker of the year. Juha Jaaska chipped the puck past a pinching Stars defender and Wagner fed a pass to Robidas on a two-on-one off the rush. Robidas was looking to feed it back to Wagner at the left circle as the puck bounced off Hellberg's pads and right back to Robidas for the score. Wagner and Jaaska were awarded assists, with Jaaska extending his points streak to three games (two goals, three assists).
Wagner capped the scoring with an empty-netter with Robidas recording an assist.
Martin shined, recording 28 saves for his 16th win of the season, while Hellberg suffered the loss (21 saves) for the Stars.