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The Chicago Wolves scored five unanswered goals to pick up a decisive win over the Cleveland Monsters, 5-1, on Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
Forward Stefan Matteau scored the Wolves’ third short-handed goal of the campaign while defenseman Dylan Coghlan and forwards Brooks Macek, Keegan Kolesar and Daniel Carr all tallied goals for Chicago (24-14-4-1). Goaltender Zach Fucale (1-2-0) stopped 28 of 29 shots to earn his first win in a Wolves sweater.
Sonny Milano scored the lone goal for Cleveland (20-17-4-1) while netminder Jean-Francois Berube (13-13-3) saved 25 shots.
After a scoreless first period, Milano broke the deadlock at 11:58 of the second period when he floated a shot through traffic and past Fucale.
The Wolves took a 2-1 lead into the intermission, however, scoring both goals in the final minute of the frame.
Coghlan tallied his ninth of the year at 19:03 when he collected a pass from forward Tyler Wong in the neutral zone, drove in on Berube from the right side, and shot a wrister from a sharp angle off the crossbar and in.
Matteau made it a 2-1 game with less than a second left in the period, tapping in a pass from defenseman Jake Bischoff for a short-handed goal that beat the buzzer and swung the momentum fully in the Wolves direction.
Chicago wasted no time lighting the lamp again when Macek notched his 19th goal of the season at the 2:06 mark. Linemate Tomas Hyka chased down a loose puck on the right wing and centered it to an unmarked Macek to send over Berube’s glove with ease.
Just 10 seconds later, Kolesar broke into the Cleveland zone and drove hard to the net, flipping a backhand shot past Berube once he saw the netminder drop to attempt a pad save.
Carr added a fifth goal at 13:39 on a 2-on-1 with Macek, catching a cross-ice pass before deking on Berube, pulling the puck to his backhand and roofing the puck to close the furious rally.
The Wolves face Cleveland again at 6 p.m. Saturday in the team’s final game before the All-Star Break. Chicago’s next home game is Saturday, Feb. 2, for Brandon Pirri Bobblehead Night.
