ROSEMONT, Ill.—Playing their third game in three days, the Wolves rallied past the Milwaukee Admirals 7-4 on Sunday afternoon at Allstate Arena.
Cavan Fitzgerald and Nathan Sucese each scored twice, Cole Schneider and Hudson Elynuik each had a goal and an assist and Dominic Franco also scored to help the Wolves defeat the Central Division-leading Admirals in front of a sold-out crowd.
“Everyone played the right way (Sunday),” Sucese said. “We did things that helped us keep the puck for the most part. We were taking care of it at both blue lines and we were staying above our checks and not letting them beat us up the ice. When all five guys on the ice are playing the right way, it usually leads to good things.”
Alex Green and Ryan Wagner each chipped in two assists as the Wolves defeated Milwaukee for the second time in 11 meetings this season.
After the Admirals jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Egor Afanasyev and Adam Wilsby, the Wolves answered with scores by Schneider and Franco.
First, Schneider notched his 11th goal of the season when the veteran forward camped in front of the net and redirected a long shot from Domenick Fensore past Milwaukee goaltender Troy Grosenick. Fensore and Rocco Grimaldi recorded assists on the power-play goal.
Later in the opening period, the Wolves knotted it at 2-2 on Franco’s goal. The forward took a nifty pass from Schneider and shoveled a backhanded shot into the net for his fourth goal of the season. In addition to Schneider, Elynuik earned an assist on the score.
The Wolves kept coming and took the lead early in the second. Elynuik took a feed from Green and zipped a shot from the right dot over Grosenick’s right shoulder and into the net. Green picked up the only helper on Elynuik’s second goal of the season.
Milwaukee knotted it at 3-3 later in the middle frame when Tye Felhaber was awarded a penalty shot and the forward converted.
Again, the Wolves responded and regained the lead on Fitzgerald’s score. The defenseman received a pass from Matt Donovan and banged home a one-timer from the slot. Donovan and Wagner had the assists.
Sucese’s shorthanded goal off a breakaway early in the third put the Wolves out in front 5-3. The forward scooped up a puck at center ice, skated in on Grosenick and buried a forehand shot to the goalie’s stick side for Sucese’s second shorthanded marker of the season. Green and Max Comtois were awarded assists.
“It was huge,” Sucese said. “I saw that their guy on the weak-side flank was really low and there was a puck battle kind of high in our zone. Max made a great pop to Green and he popped it to me and they had nobody back.”
Midway through the third, Phil Tomasino scored to pull the Admirals to within a goal but Fitzgerald potted his second of the contest to put the game away. With the Wolves on the power play, Fitzgerald took a cross-ice pass from Jake Wise and wired a wrist shot from the right circle that sailed by Grosenick’s stick and into the back of the net. Wise and Isaac Ratcliffe were given assists on Fitzgerald’s career-high 10th goal of the season.
Sucese capped the scoring with an empty-net goal—his 17th tally of the season—that was assisted by Wagner and Josh Melnick.
Adam Scheel (22 saves) earned the win in goal for the Wolves while Grosenick (18 saves) suffered the loss for the Admirals.
Chicago improved to 21-28-3-2 on the season while Milwaukee dropped to 37-15-1-0.
Next up: The Wolves host the Manitoba Moose on Friday night (7 p.m.) at Allstate Arena.
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.
