ROSEMONT, Ill.—The Chicago Wolves had their season-long, five-game points streak snapped with a 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Monsters on Sunday at Allstate Arena.
Marcus Stromwall and Jamieson Rees scored for the Wolves but it wasn’t enough as the Monsters rallied for the victory to even the season series between the teams at 4-4-0-0. The loss was the Wolves’ first in regulation since Feb. 3 in Cleveland.
“We’ve been paying much better hockey of late and we just have to stick with it,” Wolves coach Brock Sheahan said after the game. “It’s been that kind of year for us but we’re in a much better spot now than we were a couple of months ago, for sure.”
Stromwall opened the scoring late in the first period when he scooped up a puck in the slot and wired a wrist shot past Monsters goaltender Pavel Cajun to the glove side. The goal was Stromwall’s 11th of the season and gave him a team-leading 32 points.
In the opening minute of the second, Cleveland pulled into a tie on a goal by Joona Luoto off a breakaway and then took the lead early in the third on a score by Roman Ahcan.
With the clock winding down, Josh Dunne scored into the empty net but Rees answered to make things interesting. The center’s 11th goal of the season came off a shot from the right dot that slipped past Cajun.
Zachary Sawchenko (12 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves while Cajun (22 saves) earned the win earned the win for Cleveland.
The Wolves dropped to 19-23-3-2 while the Monsters upped their record to 22-21-3-2.
Up next: The Wolves travel to Iowa to face the Wild on Tuesday (7 p.m., AHLTV).
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.