Wolves salvage victory in overtime

The Chicago Wolves squandered a 3-0 third-period lead, giving up 3 goals in a span of 2:09 in the last six minutes of the third period before left wing Brett Sterling snagged an overtime tally to propel the team over the Quad City Flames 4-3 at the Allstate Arena on Saturday night.

Sterling brought the puck around the net and flung an angled shot top shelf, short side, by Quad City goaltender Leland Irving to ice the victory for Chicago (13-6-1-1), 78 seconds into the overtime frame.

"What are you going to do, breakdowns that like are part of sports - it's the way we responded to it that's important," said Wolves Head Coach Don Granato. "We snapped out of it and were able to play through it."

Wolves goaltender Robert Gherson (3-1-0) stymied Quad City (9-10-3-1) for 54:42 in his first start in five games and looked to be on the way to a shutout, before the Flames fired off three quick tallies to erase the Wolves lead.

Center Dan Ryder kicked off Quad City's comeback when left wing Kyle Greentree sent a pass across the crease, which Ryder was able to tip over the line between the goalies pads and the post. Flames teammate Kris Chucko surprised Gherson with another marker 78 seconds later and Greentree steamrolled Chicago's lead only 51 seconds later to make the score 3-3 at 16:51 of the final frame and send the game to overtime.

Sterling cracked a scoreless tie with his first of the game, 8:45 into the second period when he stole the puck and powered down the ice alone, ripping a shot by Quad City netminder Matt Keetley to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead.

Right wing Jeff Hamilton gave Chicago a two-goal cushion, 5:44 into the third period with a power-play tally. Hamilton took a pass from Matt Anderson in the slot, pulled up and shoveled a long shot past Keetley's glove side.

Center Riley Holzapfel gave the Wolves a 3-0 boost, sneaking into a crowd in front of the goal and banging the puck to the back of the net and chasing Keetley from goal at 7:55 of the final frame.

Keetley made 11 saves before giving way to Irving (4-4-0), who posted one save in 13:23 of relief duty.

The Wolves will play their third game in three days when they host the Grand Rapids Griffins at the Allstate Arena on Sunday at 3 p.m.