Wolves win; Express falls

When Milwaukee defeated the Chicago Wolves three times in the first three weeks of the season, Admirals goaltender Jeremy Smith surrendered just 5 goals.

The Wolves turned the tables on Smith during Saturday night’s Amtrak Rivalry contest as defenseman Kevin Connauton’s pair of early goals triggered a 6-3 triumph at Bradley Center.

Nathan Longpre, Mark Mancari, Mike Duco and Mark Matheson also contributed goals for the Wolves (6-5-0-2), who ran their winning streak to a season-high three games while scoring a season-high 6 goals.

Darren Haydar handed out 2 assists to give the Wolves’ veteran all-star forward 6 points in the last two games.

Wolves goaltender Matt Climie, who won for the third consecutive game, stacked up 34 saves. Smith, who entered the night second among AHL goalies with a 1.60 goals-against average, stopped 20 shots.

Wings 7, Express 4:The Chicago Express fell 7-4 at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo.The Wings struck early and often in the first period, starting with a slap-shot goal from Dean Strong five minutes into the periodBryan Haczyk added to the lead when he collected his own rebound and snapped a shot past goalie Paul Dainton at 12:32.Trent Daavettila scored for Kalamazoo just 17 seconds later, chasing Dainton from the net. Kalamazoo added a final goal in the period, when Kory Karlander scored on the power play to make it 4-0.The Wings outshot the Express 19-5 in the period.