ROSEMONT, Ill.—In the first of back-to-back games, the Chicago Wolves fell to the Cleveland Monsters 5-2 on Friday night at Allstate Arena.
Jack Drury and Nathan Sucese scored for the Wolves but the defending Calder Cup champions couldn’t hold a first-period advantage as Cleveland rallied behind goals from five different players to top Chicago for the second time in three meetings this season.
“The first was really good, we didn’t give up much and we generated chances and that’s how we want to play,” Wolves coach Brock Sheahan said. “I don’t like the way we came out in the second and didn’t build off our first period and that’s how you throw away a really good start.”
The Wolves jumped on Cleveland early, scoring twice in the opening frame. First, Drury notched his second goal of the season after taking a drop pass from Max Lajoie and rifling a wrist shot past Monsters goaltender Jet Greaves to the stick side. In addition to Lajoie, Anttoni Honka picked up an assist on the score to give the defenseman 12 on the season—most among Wolves blue liners.
The goal marked the eighth time in the past nine games the Wolves scored first in a contest.
Sucese’s seventh goal of the season a short time later gave the Wolves a 2-0 lead. Teammate Ryan Suzuki created a turnover in the neutral zone and sent a pass to Logan Lambdin, who fired a shot that Greaves stopped but gave up a rebound and Sucese banged it home from his backhand.
Midway through the second, the Monsters pulled even on quick goals from Brett Gallant and Erik Bradford and later in the period took the lead on Cole Fonstad’s power-play score.
Early in the third, Cleveland struck again on the power play as Robbie Payne cashed in with the man advantage to make it 4-2.
“The third we really pushed back but we just didn’t convert when we needed to,” Sheahan said.
Trey Fix-Wolansky capped the scoring with an empty-net goal in the waning moments.
Zachary Sawchenko (25 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves while Greaves (28 saves) earned the victory for the Monsters.
The Wolves fell to 11-16-3-1 on the season while Cleveland upped its record to 13-14-1-2.
Up next: The Wolves will host Cleveland on Saturday at Allstate Arena (7 p.m.; My50 Chicago, AHLTV). It will be Teddy Bear Toss Night, Adopt-A-Dog Night and the Wolves will also continue to spotlight Mental Health Awareness.
For information on Wolves ticket plans for the 2022-23 season — everything from single-game tickets to Flex Packs to group outings — visit ChicagoWolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
