ROSEMONT, Ill.—The Wolves snapped a six-game losing skid by dropping the Grand Rapids Griffins 7-2 on Sunday at Allstate Arena.
Nathan Sucese had a goal and two assists, Matt Donovan and Hudson Elynuik each had a goal and an assist while Isaac Ratcliffe, Chris Terry and Max Comtois also scored to propel the Wolves.
Josh Melnick and Rocco Grimaldi each chipped in two assists and Antti Raanta made 24 saves as Chicago rebounded a night after being eliminated from postseason contention.
“We know our situation—we’re not playing in the playoffs,” Donovan said. “We just played loose and simple and we were getting pucks deep. We made them play a 200-foot game.”
The Wolves jumped to an early two-goal advantage on opening-period scores by Ratcliffe and Donovan.
First, Ratcliffe took a pass from Cory Conacher and snapped a shot from the right circle that eluded Griffins goaltender Michael Hutchinson for Ratcliffe’s seventh goal of the season. Conacher had the lone assist on the play.
Chicago made it 2-0 when Donovan’s shot from the top of the right circle sailed past Hutchinson, who was being screened by Elynuik. Cavan Fitzgerald and Melnick earned assists on the power-play score—Donovan’s fourth goal of the season.
Grand Rapids got one back before the end of the first when Elmer Soderblom found the back of the net.
Early in the second, Sucese’s shorthanded tally put the Wolves in front 3-1. Melnick intercepted a pass in the Chicago zone, skated in with Sucese on an odd-man rush, fed his teammate in front and Sucese buried it for his 23rd goal of the season. The shortie was Sucese’s team-leading third of the campaign.
The Wolves kept coming and Elynuik made it 4-1 a short time later. The forward banged the puck home from in close following a terrific feed from Sucese. The marker was Elynuik’s seventh of the season and fifth in the last five games.
Tyler Spezia’s goal pulled the Griffins to within 4-2 at the second intermission, but the Wolves put the game away in the third.
Terry extended the lead by firing a one-timer from the right dot off a pass from Grimaldi that found its way through Hutchinson. Grimaldi and Donovan had assists on Terry’s 20th goal of the season.
Late in the third, Schneider added to the onslaught with the Wolves on the power play. The veteran forward shoveled the puck into the crease and it deflected off a defender and past Hutchinson for Schneider’s 13th goal of the season. Grimaldi and Domenick Fensore recorded assists.
Comtois capped the scoring when he tucked the puck past Hutchinson in the waning seconds for his 18th tally of the season. Sucese and Elynuik were awarded assists.
Raanta earned the win in goal for the Wolves while Hutchinson (24 saves) suffered the loss for the Griffins.
The Wolves improved to 23-33-6-7 while Grand Rapids dropped to 35-22-8-4.
“Things haven’t been going our way and this definitely helps raise the spirits going into the last week of the season,” Donovan said.
Next up: The Wolves travel to Rockford to face the IceHogs on Friday night (7 p.m.).
For information on Wolves tickets for the 2023-24 season—and season-ticket packages for ’24-25—visit chicagowolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
