loading...
Skip to content

Wolves’ rally falls short versus Rochester

February 3, 2015

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Chicago Wolves spotted the Rochester Americans a three-goal lead and could not catch up during a 3-2 loss on Tuesday afternoon before a School-Day Game crowd of 15,219 at Allstate Arena.

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Chicago Wolves spotted the Rochester Americans a three-goal lead and could not catch up during a 3-2 loss on Tuesday afternoon before a School-Day Game crowd of 15,219 at Allstate Arena.

Forwards Magnus Paajarvi and Jeremy Welsh scored during the final 10 minutes for the Wolves (22-18-5-1). Paajarvi’s goal was his fourth in Chicago’s last three home games.

“For two periods, they totally outworked us,” said Wolves head coach John Anderson. “They wanted it more. They were in our zone almost the whole time for two periods. There’s nothing we can do about it now. Hopefully we learn from it.”

Rochester (19-26-1-0) broke on top with left wing William Carrier’s goal at 15:05 of the first period. Joel Armia led an odd-man rush that ended with Phil Varone’s pass to Carrier in the crease for a simple redirect.

Varone gave the Americans a 2-0 lead at 7:08 of the second period. Varone set up defenseman Jerome Leduc for a blast from the point, but Adam Burish’s block ricocheted directly to Varone in the right circle and he whistled it home.

Rochester pushed its margin to 3-0 at 3:32 of the third period. Wolves goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped Jake McCabe’s wrister from the point, but Dan Catenacci waited in front of the net for the rebound and tapped it in. Anderson removed Binnington in favor of Niklas Lundstrom at that juncture.

“I was just trying to get something going,” Anderson said. “It wasn’t Binny’s fault. He played pretty good.”

The Wolves broke through with Paajarvi’s power-play goal at 10:23 of the third. Pat Cannone carried the puck below the left circle and fed it to Shane Harper stationed in front of the net. Harper sent a pretty no-look backhand across the crease to the bottom of the right circle for Paajarvi, who one-timed a blast past Rochester goaltender Andrey Makarov.

Chicago slashed the margin to 3-2 with 2:09 to play as the Wolves pulled Lundstrom to set up a 6-on-5 situation. David Shields launched a shot that pinballed into the crease, where Welsh scraped it past Makarov.

Binnington (13-9-3) posted 18 saves on 21 shots in the loss. Lundstrom, who made his American Hockey League debut, stopped all 6 shots he faced.

Makarov (14-13-1) notched 23 saves to pick up the win.

The Wolves visit Charlotte for 6 p.m. games on Friday and Saturday before returning to Allstate Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 11, for an Amtrak Rivalry game against Milwaukee. To find the best deals on tickets, visit ChicagoWolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.

AMERICANS 3, WOLVES 2

Rochester 1 1 1 — 3

Chicago 0 0 2 — 2

First Period—1, Rochester, Carrier 5 (Varone, Armia), 15:05. Penalties—Broadhurst, Chicago (interference), 17:49; Burish, Chicago (slashing), 18:17; Schaller, Rochester (slashing), 18:17.

Second Period—2, Rochester, Varone 11 (Leduc, Carrier), 7:08. Penalties—Catenacci, Rochester (slashing), 11:40; Pelech, Rochester (fighting), 11:40; Lindbohm, Chicago (fighting), 11:40.

Third Period—3, Rochester, Catenacci 7 (Rankin, McCabe), 3:32; 4, Chicago, Paajarvi 4 (Harper, Cannone), 10:23 pp; 5, Chicago, Welsh 11 (Burish, Shields), 17:51. Penalties—Austin, Rochester (slashing), 9:34; Catenacci, Rochester (charging), 15:27.

Shots on goal—Rochester 12-7-8—27; Chicago 8-6-11—25. Power plays—Rochester 0-1; Chicago 1-3. Goalies—Rochester, Makarov (23-25); Chicago, Binnington (18-21), replaced at 43:32 by Lundstrom (6-6). A—15,219. Referees—Peter Tarnaris and Peter MacDougall. Linesmen—Francois Dussureault and Jim Scarpace.