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Despite producing a 39-25 advantage in shots, the Chicago Wolves suffered a 5-1 loss to the Toronto Marlies Saturday night at Allstate Arena.
Forward Sam Miletic scored for the Central Division-leading Wolves (7-3-0-0), who faced the Marlies (6-4-0-0) for the first time since April 19, 2015.
“That wasn’t our best performance by any means,” said Wolves head coach Ryan Warsofsky. “We need to learn from it. We can win other ways (than outshooting teams) and we need to learn from that.”
Toronto posted the game’s opening goal just 2:29 into the game when defenseman Joseph Duszak launched a shot from the right point that ricocheted off the back boards and found Bobby McMann waiting at the back door for the rebound. The Marlies boosted their lead to 2-0 at 4:58 when Kurtis Gabriel swatted home a rebound.
The Wolves slashed the deficit in half at 9:28 when their third line teamed up for Miletic’s first goal in a Chicago uniform. Maxim Letunov cleared the puck down the left wing and Spencer Smallman won a battle for it just inside the offensive zone, then dished to the onrushing Miletic. He deked a defenseman and then zipped a shot between goaltender Erik Kallgren’s skates to make it 2-1.
There were several good scoring chances for both teams early in the second period, but Toronto earned the first goal as Semyon Der-Arguchintsev and Josh Ho-Sang worked a give-and-go that led to Der-Arguchintsev’s easy goal from the slot that made it 3-1 at 4:49.
Marc Michaelis’ short-handed goal off an odd-man rush pushed Toronto’s lead to 4-1 at 11:16 of the second. Pavel Gogolev made it 5-1 in the third period with a wrister from the high slot.
Kallgren (4-2-0) posted 38 saves in the win while Beck Warm (0-1-0), the AHL’s Central Division All-Star goaltender last season, stopped 20 shots in his first AHL appearance this season.
The Wolves host the Marlies again at 3 p.m. Sunday. To get good seats for Military Appreciation Weekend and Papa John’s Family Sunday, contact a Wolves ticket representative HERE or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
