Wolves fall, but playoff magic number is 1

Oklahoma City scored 4 goals in the first period to spark a 5-0 victory over the Chicago Wolves on Saturday night at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

Despite the defeat - the Wolves' second in their last 11 games - their magic number to clinch a Calder Cup playoff spot dropped to 1 because Adirondack and Hamilton lost their games. The Wolves (38-27-6-1), who have three regular-season games left, can clinch a berth today when they host Iowa at 4 p.m.

"We had to give everything we had Friday night to pull out the game in Milwaukee," said Wolves coach John Anderson. "We were a little stale coming in. They had a little bit more of an edge than we did. They were a little more ready to play."

The Barons (39-26-5-3), who clinched a Western Conference playoff berth, broke on top just 34 seconds into the game when former Wolves defenseman Brad Hunt rifled a shot from the left circle past goaltender Matt Climie's glove.

The Barons built a 2-0 lead on Nick Pageau's short-handed goal at 5:08 of the first period. After a Wolves turnover in the defensive end, Pageau launched a slap shot from above the right circle for his first AHL tally.

Oklahoma City pushed its margin to 3-0 at 16:07 of the first on Matthew Ford's power-play goal. Rookie Joey LaLeggia ripped a slap shot from the left point and Ford redirected it from just outside the crease for his third of 4 points in the period.

Just 51 seconds later, defenseman Jordan Oesterle recorded the Barons' second short-handed goal for a 4-0 lead. Climie took a seat on the bench as Anderson sent in Jordan Binnington for the rest of the way. The Barons' Andrew Miller contributed a power-play goal at 4:42 of the third to boost the lead to 5-0.

Climie (15-13-3) stopped 8 in the loss, while Binnington posted 13 saves. Barons rookie Laurent Brossoit (23-21-4) registered 38 saves to earn his third shutout.