Wolves complete weekend road sweep
ABBOTSFORD, B.C. - The Chicago Wolves won for the second time in as many nights to complete both the weekend and the season sweeps of the Abbotsford Heat with a 4-1 victory Sunday night at the Abbotsford Entertainment & Sports Centre.
One night earlier, propelled by center Pat Cannone's first professional hat trick, the Wolves toppled the Heat 7-2.
On Sunday, center Alexandre Bolduc, right wing Cody Beach and left wing Dmitrij Jaskin scored first-period goals to build a 3-0 lead, and right wing Tyler Shattock closed it out in the final period. Goaltender Matt Climie made 28 saves to earn his 100th American Hockey League win.
The Wolves (35-18-4-2), who won for the sixth time in seven games and pulled within 3 points of Midwest Division leader Grand Rapids with one game in hand, opened the scoring at 11:07 of the first.
After a close chance for the Heat (33-21-5-2), defenseman Cade Fairchild led the rush the other way as he crossed the blue line into the offensive zone and fed a pass to the front of the net for a tip-in by Bolduc.
The Wolves doubled their score at 14:00 as left wing Eric Selleck, covering the point for a pinching defenseman, sent the puck on net where Beach redirected it. The quick 2-0 lead marked the end of the night for Heat goaltender Olivier Roy, who was pulled for the second night in a row.
Abbotsford replacement goaltender Aaron Dell was not able to stop the barrage as Jaskin made the score 3-0 at 16:14. Fairchild reversed the puck and then sped up the wing, accepting a pass and then sending it cross-ice to Jaskin for the quick shot.
The second period took on a new tone as Abbotsford came out firing. Defenseman Braden Lamb, playing as a forward in the game because of injuries, took advantage of a long shift by the Wolves to pick up a far pass and get around the defense. He buried a shot in the top corner over Climie's glove at 15:45 to make it 3-1.
Chicago added some insurance in the final period as center Pat Cannone set up Shattock at 8:38 for the 4-1 lead. Cannone cut toward the goal and sacrificed a shot to set up Shattock with the gaping net on the other side of the crease.
Dell made 13 saves; Roy (6-7-1), who stopped 2 of 4 shots, was credited with the loss.
The Wolves return to the Allstate Arena to face Texas on Saturday and Sunday as they debut their St. Patrick's Day specialty jerseys to raise money for Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago and Chicago Wolves Chicago.