The Chicago Wolves scored three consecutive third-period goals to rally for a 3-1 victory against the Cleveland Monsters on Sunday at Allstate Arena.
Rookie defenseman Jake Bischoff and forward Tomas Hyka each registered a goal and an assist while goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo (9-10-1) made 25 saves for the victory.
“Sometimes you just don’t have it, you don’t belong in a game,” said Wolves head coach Rocky Thompson. “Cleveland was outplaying us, but ‘Kaz’ kept us in it. Guys realized between periods how hard he was playing and I think it inspired them a little bit.”
Following a scoreless first period, Justin Scott scored 2:33 into the second session to give the Monsters (12-21-3-3) the 1-0 lead.
After another 25-minute, 52-second scoreless span, Hyka fed a cross-ice pass to T.J. Tynan along the left half-wall. Tynan fed the puck to the left point for Bischoff, who teed up a shot that made it through a crowd and past Monsters netminder Matiss Kivlenieks (6-13-2) for the 1-1 equalizer and his first goal with the Wolves.
Seven minutes later from the blue line, Bischoff fed a pass to Brandon Pirri behind the Cleveland net. Pirri swung around the back of the net and wired a pass to Hyka rushing up the slot for the game-winning goal.
With just under a minute to play — and Kivlenieks on the bench for an extra Monsters skater — captain Paul Thompson blasted a shot on the empty net that a Cleveland defender blocked. Center Wade Megan wrangled the rebound and potted it for the 3-1 insurance goal.
The Wolves travel to Arizona and kick off a two-game set against the Tucson Roadrunners on Friday, Jan. 26, at 8 p.m. The game will be televised on The U Too in the Chicago area. The game on Saturday, Jan. 27, also is slated for 8 p.m. and can be viewed on CW50.
