Wolves hang on, beat Admirals

The Chicago Wolves scored 3 goals in the last six minutes of the second period and fought off a late rally to escape with a 4-3 victory over the Milwaukee Admirals at the Allstate Arena on Sunday night.

Forwards Jason Krog (2 assists) and Jared Ross (goal, assist) and defenseman Noah Welch (2 assists) each tallied 2 points for the Wolves, while forwards Darren Haydar, Andre Deveaux and Fredrik Pettersson also scored for the Wolves (4-2-1-0).

“It's a bittersweet win when an easy game turns into fighting to keep a one-goal lead,” said Wolves coach Don Lever. “It's tough to stay focused when you're up 4-0 and the other team has nothing to lose and is coming at you and we understand that, but we shouldn't be giving up 3 goals when we're up 4-0.”

The Wolves took a 1-0 lead, 5:41 into the game with a power-play tally from Pettersson. Ross moved the puck out from behind the net and Pettersson ripped a low shot past Admirals goaltender Chet Pickard from below the right face-off circle.

The Wolves kicked off their second-period rally when Ross made the lead 2-0 with 6:01 remaining in the frame. Right wing Spencer Machacek collected the puck along the right boards and shipped it across the ice to Ross, who drove into the zone and lasered a shot past Pickard's glove side.

Haydar made it 3-0 for the Wolves at 15:33 of the middle frame. Krog controlled the puck along the left boards and slipped a pass to Haydar on the goal line. The right wing turned and angled a shot that banked off Pickard's left pad and into the back of the net.

Deveaux put the Wolves up 4-0 with a power-play goal at 17:48 of the second period. Deveaux was stationed in front of the net where he was able to pounce on the rebound from Krog's shot and lift it up over Pickard to give the Wolves a 4-0 lead.

Pickard (0-3-1) turned aside 31 shots for the Admirals in the loss.

Milwaukee (3-2-1-1) got on the board with a power-play tally of their own, 52 seconds into the third period when left wing Linus Klasen ripped a shot past Wolves goaltender Edward Pasquale high into the left corner of the net.

The Admirals cut the Wolves' lead to 4-2 when left wing Gabriel Bourque stole the puck from Pasquale behind the goal and deposited it into the net at 3:22.

Milwaukee pulled within 4-3 at 16:02 of the final period when center Blake Geoffrion fed the puck out from behind the net to Andreas Thuresson in front for a quick snap past Pasquale.

Pasquale (4-1-0) turned aside 28 shots for the Wolves, which includes holding the Admirals scoreless in the opening 40 minutes of the game.