ROSEMONT, Ill.—The Chicago Wolves wrapped up a busy weekend when they took the ice against the Texas Stars on Sunday at Allstate Arena.
Isaac Ratcliffe and Rocco Grimaldi scored for the Wolves in regulation but it wasn’t enough as the Stars rallied late in the game for a 3-2 victory in a shootout. Goaltender Keith Kinkaid made 27 saves in his season debut to help the Wolves capture three out of a possible four points over the weekend.
“It’s kind of heart-breaking losing like that,” said Kinkaid, who was stellar throughout but yielded a Stars goal with under a second remaining in regulation followed by the winner in the seventh round of the shootout. “I felt pretty good but you always want to get that win for the team. But it’s a long season and we got a point. We just have to keep trucking.”
After a scoreless opening period, Ratcliffe broke the deadlock late in the second when the forward took a pass from Chris Terry at center ice, raced into the Stars zone and unleashed a wrist shot from the left dot that beat Texas goaltender Remi Poirier to the stick side. Also assisting on Ratcliffe’s first goal of the season was Matt Donovan.
The Stars knotted the score at 1-1 early in the third when Antonio Stranges scored on the power play.
Grimaldi gave the Wolves the lead with four minutes, 27 remaining when he took a terrific feed from Hudson Elynuik and buried a shot past Poirier’s stick. Tyson Feist also assisted on Grimaldi’s second goal of the season.
With the clock ticking down in regulation, Mavrik Bourque tied it at 2-2 and Nick Caamano then provided the winner for the Stars in the shootout.
Coming off an injury that caused him to miss the first three games of the season, Kinkaid suffered the loss while Poirier (31 saves) earned the win for the Stars.
The Wolves dropped to 1-1-1-1 while the Stars improved to 3-2-0-0.
Next up: The Wolves travel to Iowa to face the Wild on Wednesday (7 p.m.).
For information on Wolves ticket plans for the 2023-24 season—everything from single-game tickets to Flex Packs to group outings—visit chicagowolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
