ROCKFORD, Ill.—The Wolves opened a three-game road trip by falling to the Rockford IceHogs 4-3 in overtime Wednesday night at BMO Center.
Rocco Grimaldi had a goal and an assist and Matt Donovan and Max Comtois also scored to help Chicago earn a valuable point in the Central Division postseason race despite dropping its fourth game in a row.
Brett Seney had two goals—including the game-winner with 38 seconds remaining in overtime—to help Rockford rally to the victory and even the season series between the in-state rivals at four games apiece.
“We did everything we needed to do to set ourselves up for a win and unfortunately they had a late push and we made some costly mistakes,” Donovan said. “It’s very frustrating. Up 3-1 in the third period, those are the games you have to learn to put away and get the two points.”
The IceHogs struck first when Isaak Phillips found the back of the net midway through the opening period.
The Wolves tied it on Donovan’s score with :34 remaining in the first. The defenseman camped in front of the net and shoveled a terrific cross-ice pass from Rocco Grimaldi past Rockford goaltender Jaxson Stauber. Grimaldi and Ryan Wagner earned assists on Donovan’s third goal of the season.
“I was just trying to get open for Rocco,” Donovan said. “The forwards we have on our team have really good vision so I was just trying to find a soft area and get open.”
Comtois struck :24 into the second period to put the Wolves out in front 2-1. The forward redirected Cavan Fitzgerald’s shot from the point for his 15th goal of the season. In addition to Fitzgerald, Hudson Elynuik recorded an assist on Comtois’ score.
The Wolves kept coming and made it 3-1 late in the second on Grimaldi’s shorthanded tally. While helping kill a penalty, the veteran winger stripped the IceHogs’ Filip Roos of the puck in the Wolves zone, raced toward Stauber and unloaded a slap shot from the top of the right circle into the net. The unassisted goal was Grimaldi’s team-leading 29th of the season.
Rockford then mounted a third-period comeback and pulled to within 3-2 midway through on Phillips’ second goal of the game and tied it a short time later on a score by Seney.
Seney then won it with the clock ticking down in overtime.
Antti Raanta (28 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves while Stauber (21 saves) earned the win for the IceHogs.
Chicago dropped to 21-30-4-3 on the season while Rockford moved to 29-22-5-2.
Next up: The Wolves travel to Iowa to face the Wild on Friday night (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.
