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Milwaukee
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Frederick Gaudreau scored in the shootout’s fourth round to give the Milwaukee Admirals a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Wolves Sunday afternoon at Allstate Arena.
Forwards Valentin Zykov and Brandon Pirri scored for the Wolves (15-16-2-1), who finished the decade with a 222-117-22-23 record during regular-season home games.
Chicago earned three of a possible four points for the weekend by defeating second-place Iowa Saturday night and picking up one point against first-place Milwaukee Sunday.
“I really liked both our games,” said Wolves head coach Rocky Thompson. “I thought it was a great hockey game (tonight). Three out of four points against the top two teams in our division, I’m happy with, because I felt like we could have gotten more at the end of the day. Our guys competed really hard and they executed well.”
Zykov opened the scoring at 9:18 of the second period with a wrister that beat Milwaukee goaltender Troy Grosenick top-shelf.
Pirri triggered the play by one-timing a delicate backhand pass to Keegan Kolesar at the defensive blue line. Kolesar carried the puck into the offensive zone and dropped it back for the uncovered Zykov, who rolled into the left faceoff circle before authoring his second goal of the year.
Milwaukee (26-5-3-2) pulled even on forward Cole Schneider’s power-play goal at the 8:34 mark of the third period. The Admirals took their first lead with 5:44 left when Daniel Carr, the 2018-19 AHL Most Valuable Player while playing for the Wolves, spied Gaudreau open in the slot for a quick shot.
The Wolves erased that deficit on Pirri’s power-play goal with 3:23 left in regulation. After a scramble in Milwaukee’s crease left Grosenick struggling to get back to his feet, forward Lucas Elvenes and defenseman Dylan Coghlan worked the puck around to Pirri for a quick snap from the left faceoff circle.
Grosenick (13-2-2) earned the win with 26 saves in regulation and overtime along with four in the shootout. Wolves goaltender Garret Sparks (4-10-3) stopped 21 shots in regulation and overtime.
The Wolves play their last game of the decade Tuesday night at Grand Rapids, then open the New Year with home games on Thursday and Saturday nights. For tickets, visit ChicagoWolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
