Wolves close regular season with win over Milwaukee
The Chicago Wolves wrapped up the American Hockey League regular season by pummeling the Milwaukee Admirals 5-1 on Sunday at Allstate Arena.
Bradly Nadeau and Justin Robidas each had a goal and two assists, Nikita Pavlychev and Noah Philp each scored and added an assist and Ronan Seeley tallied to propel the Wolves to their fourth win in a row. Chicago finished the season series over their division rivals with an 8-1-2-1 record.
The Wolves struck first when Seeley notched his 11th goal of the season midway through the opening period. David Gagnon won a draw in the Admirals zone cleanly with the puck sliding to Seeley and the defenseman’s one-timer sailed past Milwaukee netminder Magnus Chrona to the stick side. Gagnon had the lone assist on the score.
Late in the first, Pavlychev took the puck to the net and shoveled a backhander from in close that trickled through Chrona and over the line for a 2-0 Wolves lead. Nadeau and Robidas earned assists on Pavlychev’s 14th goal of the season.
The Wolves kept coming and took a 3-0 lead midway through the second when Robidas scooped up a loose puck at the blue line, raced in all alone on Chrona and solved the goalie with a forehand shot to the glove side. Philp and Nadeau assisted on Robidas’ 23rd marker of the season.
The rout was on when Nadeau struck late in the period with his team-leading 27th goal of the season. The 20-year-old winger’s shot from in close was stopped by Chrona but the puck came to a stop in the crease and Nadeau swooped in and batted it into the back of the net. Robidas and Pavlychev were awarded assists.
Milwaukee finally got on the board moments after Nadeau’s goal when Isaac Ratcliffe found the back of the net. It marked the Admirals’ first goal in 183 minutes, 47 seconds of ice time.
As the clock wound down on the second, Philp made it 5-1 Wolves with his eighth tally of the season. The Wolves cycled the puck in the Admirals zone until Philp found open space, closed in on Chrona and flipped a shot past the goalie’s glove. Felix Unger Sorum and Joel Nystrom had helpers.
Cayden Primeau (35 saves) picked up the win in goal for the Wolves while Chrona (21 saves) suffered the loss for the Admirals.
The contest had no bearing on the Central Division postseason picture as the Wolves, who finished second in the Central, are set to face the Texas Stars in the Division Semifinals with Game 1 scheduled for April 28. Meanwhile, the Admirals are ticketed for a first-round matchup with the Manitoba Moose beginning Wednesday night.
Chicago finished the regular season with a record of 36-21-8-7 while Milwaukee was 32-33-4-3.