Angry Wolves continue downward spiral

The Chicago Wolves' frustration began to boil on Saturday.

Their losing, the lack of favorable bounces, the constant penalties, the officials, the miscues … it all caught up with the Wolves as they fell 4-3 to the Houston Aeros at the Allstate Arena.

As the Wolves (47-19-2-3) dropped their sixth game in their last seven and lost sole possession of first place in the Western Conference, their anger came loose in 2 fights, 6 unsportsmanlike misconducts, 78 minutes of penalties and a lot of yelling.

"The bottom line is we're taking too many penalties," said veteran Steve Martins, who scored a 5-on-3 shorthanded goal. "The hooking, the slashing, the roughing -- (coach) Johnny (Anderson) talks about it every day, but it seems to be getting worse."

Before the penalties began piling up Saturday, the Wolves' demise began by being unable to make the simple play.

Wolves defenseman Chad Denny set up the first goal when his pass inside his zone sailed directly to the Aeros' Serge Payer, who quickly found teammate Danny Imen for a goal.

After another Imen goal, the Wolves' follies continued. Joe Motzko miscued while trying to hit the puck, lost it, Cal Clutterbuck picked it up and easily scored with a 1-on-1 with goalie Ondrej Pavelec.

The Aeros went up 4-0 when they played a 2-on-1 perfectly and Payer put a one-timer past Pavelec off a pass by Colton Gillies at 4:45. Pavelec, who made 12 saves, was pulled after the goal. Robert Gherson replaced Pavelec and made 20 saves.

"We have the shooting-ourselves-in-the-foot disease," Andersons said. "We're making too many turnovers."

The Wolves gained some composure in the third period and got within 4-3 when Darren Haydar knocked in a goal with 20.2 seconds remaining.

With 5.1 seconds left, Aeros goalie Barry Brust struck the Wolves' Brett Sterling from behind with his stick and was ejected. Anton Khudobin replaced him and made a save just before time expired on a shot by the Wolves' Nathan Oystrick.

Oystrick and Wolves assistant coach Wendell Young finished the tally of Wolves' penalties as they were both given game misconducts for unsportsmanlike before while coming off the ice.