CLEVELAND – Wade Megan registered his second short-handed goal and Brad Hunt picked up his fourth goal of the season, but the Chicago Wolves suffered a 4-2 loss to reigning Calder Cup champion Cleveland Monsters Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Wolves (5-6-1-1) were strong early and built a two-goal lead after 20 minutes, but Cleveland (5-7-0-1) scored two goals in the second period and two more in the third to earn a come-from-behind win over the Wolves for the second night in a row.
Wolves goaltender Jordan Binnington (3-3-1) stopped 27 of 30 shots and Cleveland Anton Forsberg (5-3-1) turned aside 16 shots to pick up the win.
After a relatively uneventful opening 10 minutes, Wolves right wing Ty Rattie dug the puck out of the left offensive corner and tossed it to Ivan Barbashev. The Wolves center then dished a cross-slot pass to Hunt floating into the top of the right circle for a one-time shot at 13:50.
In the final minutes of play in the opening stanza, captain Chris Butler was given a slashing penalty. On the penalty kill, center Wade Megan intercepted a Cleveland point pass and dashed between two Monsters skaters for a breakaway chance that he cashed in low on Forsberg’s glove side.
The second frame was all Cleveland as the Monsters scored twice. Nick Moutrey tallied the second short-handed goal of the game to get the Monsters on the board at 6:07. Then, at 15:33 from below the goal line, Sonny Milano banked a shot off Binnington’s back to tie the game at two.
The Monsters scored their third goal, the go-ahead marker, at 8:22 of the final session when Markus Hannikainen netted his fifth goal of the season. With less than two seconds on the clock, John Scott nabbed an empty-net tally for the 4-2 final.
Chicago wraps up its two-week road trip on Friday, Nov. 18, against the Iowa Wild at Wells Fargo Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast live in the Chicago area on The U Too. For complete 2016-17 game and broadcast schedules, visit ChicagoWolves.com.
