Wolves beat Quad Cities behind Lehtonen

Goaltender Kari Lehtonen saved 27 of 28 shots in his first appearance since the 2005 Calder Cup Finals, and center Alexandre Giroux netted 2 goals to help the Chicago Wolves beat the Quad City Flames 4-1 at the Allstate Arena on Tuesday.

Lehtonen (1-0-0), who was reassigned by the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers on Monday for conditioning, held Quad City off the scoreboard for 59:50 before allowing a goal.

The native of Helsinki, Finland, started his North American professional career with the Wolves from 2003-05 and ranks second in franchise history with 59 wins and 8 shutouts.

"We got the win, which was the most important thing," Lehtonen said. "Everyone expected me to play great coming from the NHL. It was good to have that kind of pressure on me."

Lehtonen, the second overall pick in the 2002 NHL entry draft, started the season with the Thrashers and went winless in five appearances before being placed on injured reserve.

Since leaving the Wolves and joining the NHL ranks, he has a 58-43-9 record with a 2.84 goals-against average and .910 save percentage in 115 games with Atlanta.

The Wolves received 2-assist efforts from Steve Martins and Brett Sterling and a goal and an assist from Jason Krog.