The Chicago Wolves reached the penultimate stop on their four-game road trip and skated to a 3-2 victory over the Stars on Sunday in Texas.
Ryan Suzuki, Vasily Ponomarev and Cavan Fitzgerald scored and Zachary Sawchenko was strong in goal as the Wolves erased an early deficit to snap a four-game losing skid.
The defending Calder Cup champion Wolves improved to 1-1-1-0 on the trip and captured three of a possible four points during the weekend series against the Central Division-leading Stars.
Texas notched the only goal of the opening period when Rhett Gardner found the back of the net to get the Stars on the board.
The Wolves took over from there.
Suzuki knotted the score at 1-1 with the Wolves on a second-period power play, unleashing a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that sailed past Texas goaltender Remi Poirier to the stick side. Max Lajoie and Ronan Seeley earned assists on Suzuki’s 10th goal of the season.
Just 46 seconds later, Ponomarev gathered a pass from Jack Dugan and fired a shot from the slot that also beat Poirier to the stick side to put the Wolves out in front. The goal was Ponomarev’s team-leading 19th of the season and was assisted by Dugan and Anttoni Honka.
The Wolves’ top-ranked penalty kill came through again when Chicago negated a lengthy two-man advantage for the Stars at the end of the second to maintain the lead at the second intermission.
Early in the third, the Wolves took a 3-1 lead on Fitzgerald’s second goal of the season when the defenseman took a touch pass from Nathan Sucese, maneuvered around a Stars defenseman and flipped a shot from the high slot that eluded Poirier to the blocker side. Sucese and Tuukka Tieksola recorded assists on the third consecutive goal by the visitors.
The Stars answered to cut the Wolves lead to 3-2 on a goal by Curtis McKenzie midway through the third but Sawchenko shut the door the rest of the way.
Sawchenko made 30 saves to earn the win for the Wolves while Poirier (22 saves) suffered the loss for the Stars.
The Wolves upped their record to 27-28-4-3 on the season and Texas dropped to 35-18-8-3.
Up next: The Wolves travel to Grand Rapids to face the Griffins on Wednesday (6 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.
