Veteran center T.J. Tynan scored three goals – including two short-handed tallies – and the Chicago Wolves rattled off three consecutive third-period goals en route to a 6-3 victory over the Iowa Wild Saturday night at Allstate Arena.
In Chicago’s fourth straight win, forwards Tomas Hyka, Wade Megan and Teemu Pulkkinen also scored. Hyka’s goal was his fifth point in two games (3G, 2A) while Megan registered three points (G, 2A) in the victory. Tynan, meanwhile, posted his second career hat trick in AHL play.
“(Tynan) and Wade Megan were working really nicely together,” said Wolves head coach Rocky Thompson. “I’ve never really played them together, actually, so I’ve started using them more and I think it’s paying dividends for us. At one point, it seemed like we were generating more shots on our penalty kill.”
After the Wolves (10-12-4-1) won a defensive-zone faceoff while short-handed, the puck spun toward the boards and Megan chipped it toward the blue line. Tynan scooped up the puck and attempted to get behind the Wild (13-9-5-1) defense. With a defender on his back, Tynan managed to get off a backhand shot that squeezed between Iowa goaltender Adam Vay (0-1-1) and the post to give Chicago the 1-0 lead at 8:15.
Just 53 seconds later – still on the man advantage – the Wild erased the Wolves’ lead as Luke Kunin’s shot from the left circle found the back of the net.
Again short-handed at 14:57 of the first, in the slot Megan dropped a pass to Tynan and he snapped another shot behind Vay for the 2-1 go-ahead goal.
However, the Wild again answered right away – just 1:20 later – as Zach Palmquist cashed in on the power play.
“We were talking about it in the (coaches room),” Thompson said. “We’ve never been a part of one where you score a short-handed goal and then give up a power-play goal — and then do it again.”
In the latter stages of the second session with the Wolves on the power play, from the right offensive faceoff dot Pulkkinen ended a goal-scoring drought at six games with the 3-2 go-ahead tally with 2:32 left in the period.
The Wild again had the man advantage and Sam Anas made Chicago pay as he netted the 3-3 equalizing goal just 3:20 into the third frame.
With less than three minutes to play in the game, Beau Bennett circled in the neutral zone and hit Brandon Pirri – streaking up the right wing – with a pass. He fed the puck to Hyka for a goal that would stand as the game-winner.
Just 1:18 later, Tynan completed his hat trick.
Megan netted his second empty-net goal of the season with 18 seconds on the clock to for the 6-3 final score.
Wolves goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo (5-8-1) made 15 saves in the win while Vay stopped 37 of 42 shots in the loss.
The Wolves wrap up a 3-in-3 weekend on Sunday, Dec. 17, against the Milwaukee Admirals at Allstate Arena. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on NHL Network and The U Too.
