Wolves can't catch Monsters

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Chicago Wolves rallied late twice to get within one goal, but the Lake Erie Monsters held on for a 4-3 win on Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

Forwards Eriah Hayes, Danny Kristo and Jeremy Welsh scored for the Wolves (11-8-1-2), who outshot the Monsters 15-7 in the third period of the Central Division showdown. Josh Anderson posted 2 goals and 1 assist for Lake Erie.

The Monsters (14-6-1-2) needed just 37 seconds to open the scoring. Lake Erie's odd-man rush began with Anderson carrying the puck down the right side. He fired a centering pass beyond the crease back-door to Kerby Rychel, who knocked it home.

Lake Erie made it 2-0 at 6:41 with another successful odd-man rush. Right wing Daniel Zarr pulled up just inside the right circle and launched a blast through traffic and past goaltender Jordan Binnington.

The Monsters pushed the lead to 3-0 at 7:01 of the second on Anderson's first goal. Defenseman Dean Kukan skated almost the length of the ice before dropping the puck back to Anderson for a one-time blast from the right circle.

Chicago got on the board with Hayes' goal at 12:14 of the second. He collected the puck behind the net, circled in front and earned the goal on his third attempt to jam the puck past Lake Erie goaltender Anton Forsberg.

The Wolves cut the margin to 3-2 with 3:03 left in the game on Kristo's blast from the left point that clipped a pair of Lake Erie defenders and went into the net.

Lake Erie answered with Anderson's power-play goal with 1:15 left to give the hosts some insurance, which they needed because the Wolves pulled Binnington and pulled within one goal again on Welsh's redirect of Peter Harrold's one-timer with 16.1 seconds remaining.

Binnington (6-4-2) finished with 26 saves while Forsberg (9-2-1) stopped 32 shots.

The Wolves face Lake Erie again at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.