5
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Chicago
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The Chicago Wolves scored three goals in a three-minute stretch of the second period, but the Grand Rapids Griffins shrugged it off to earn a 5-3 victory on Saturday night at Van Andel Arena.
The Wolves (4-1-0-0) became the last team in the American Hockey League to suffer a loss despite the work done by Wolves forwards T.J. Tynan, Brandon Pirri and Brooks Macek. They reeled off three goals in 3:01 of the second to pull the Wolves even.
Max Lagace (2-1-0) posted 27 saves for the Wolves while Grand Rapids forward Matt Puempel scored a pair of goals for the Griffins (2-4-0-0).
Grand Rapids opened a 2-0 lead in the first period as Turner Elson whacked home a shot off a faceoff at 6:48, then Vili Saarijarvi converted a 5-on-3 power play with eight seconds left in the opening stanza. Grand Rapids pushed its lead to 3-0 just 48 seconds into the second period on Puempel’s slap shot, but the Wolves stormed back.
Tynan started the rally by racing down the right wing, going beneath the goal line and banking the puck off the back of Grand Rapids goaltender Harri Sateri.
Pirri followed 1:05 later by fending off a Griffins defenseman in front of the net and tipping Erik Brännström’s blast from the point. The Wolves made it 3-3 at 7:40 of the second when defenseman Zach Whitecloud whistled the puck into the crease and Macek redirected it with his skate.
Grand Rapids regained the lead on Chris Terry’s wrister at the 11:40 mark of the second, then Puempel added an empty-netter in the waning moments. Sateri (2-3-0) stopped 25 shots to pick up the win.
The Wolves return to Allstate Arena at 3 p.m. Sunday against the Milwaukee Admirals for Breast Cancer Awareness Day. It’s also a Family Sunday, which means the first 1,000 kids receive a GameWorks gift card and enjoy plenty of pregame and postgame activities.
