The Wolves wrapped up a two-game set with the Roadrunners on Saturday night in Tucson.
Nathan Sucese, Isaac Ratcliffe and Chris Terry scored but it wasn’t enough as the Wolves fell to the Roadrunners 5-3 at Tucson Arena. Tucson swept the back-to-back games to extend the Wolves’ losing skid to five games.
After a scoreless opening period during which the Wolves held a 12-6 shot advantage, the Roadrunners got on the board first early in the second on a goal by Victor Soderstrom.
The Wolves answered while killing a penalty when Sucese stripped Soderstrom of the puck at the Chicago blue line, raced in on Roadrunners goaltender Anson Thornton and flipped a backhander into the net. The shorthanded score was Sucese’s second goal of the season.
Later in the period, Tucson seized the lead on Ryan McGregor’s goal but the Wolves once again evened things while on special teams. This time, Ratcliffe banged home his second goal of the season from in close while the Wolves were on the power play. Terry and Max Comtois earned assists on Ratcliffe’s second goal of the season.
Just 23 seconds later, Josh Doan tallied to give the Roadrunners a 3-2 lead to cap the scoring in the second period.
Tucson added an insurance goal midway through the third when Nathan Smith found the back of the net.
Terry pulled the Wolves to within 4-3 with 2:00 remaining. With an extra attacker on the ice, Terry took a feed from Austin Strand and rifled a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle that sailed past Thornton to the glove side. Mitch Vande Sompel also picked up an assist on the play.
Doan’s empty-net goal in the waning seconds put the game away for the Roadrunners.
Keith Kinkaid (25 saves) took the loss in goal for the Wolves while Thornton made 27 saves to earn the win in his professional debut.
The Wolves dropped to 1-5-1-1 on the season while the Roadrunners improved to 5-3-0-0.
Next up: The Wolves host the Iowa Wild on Saturday (7 p.m.) at Allstate Arena. It will be WWE Night, featuring a Josh Melnick WWE Bobblehead giveaway, as well as an Adopt-A-Dog Night and Canned Food Drive.
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.
