ROSEMONT, Ill.—Despite scoring two shorthanded goals, the Wolves fell to the Iowa Wild 3-2 on Tuesday at Allstate Arena.
Josiah Slavin and Domenick Fensore each had third-period goals—both coming with the Wolves killing a penalty—but in the end, Iowa skated to the victory when Kyle Masters notched the game-winner. The loss was the Wolves’ fourth in a row while the Wild snapped a seven-game losing skid to start the 2024-25 American Hockey League season.
“It’s tough because we fought so hard in the third period and came up short,” Wolves captain Josiah Slavin said. “At the end of the day, we just need a better start. If we play a full 60 minutes like we did in the third period, good things are going to happen for this team.”
Ryan Sandelin found the back of the net in each of the first two periods to stake the Wild to a 2-0 advantage heading into the third.
That’s when the Wolves came alive as they skated shorthanded following a penalty to Aleksi Heimosalmi early in the period. First, Slavin stuffed the puck past Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt from in close to pull the Wolves within a goal. The unassisted marker was Slavin’s first of the season.
The Wolves kept coming and tied it 1 minute, 28 seconds later—still while killing the Heimosalmi penalty—on Fensore’s first tally of the season. The defenseman scooped up a loose puck and shoveled a backhander by Wallstedt to the glove side. Skyler Brind’Amour picked up an assist on the play.
The Wild regained the lead midway through the third on Masters’ tally and that proved to be the final margin.
Ruslan Khazheyev (23 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves in his AHL debut while Wallstedt (16 saves) earned the victory
Chicago dropped to 1-4-1-0 on the season while Iowa improved to 1-6-1-0.
“Every point matters in this league,” Slavin said. “These games in late October matter come April. We kind of need to get going here and just start earning a couple of points here and there and go on a little bit of a run.”
Next up: The Wolves travel to Rockford to face the IceHogs on Saturday night (7 p.m.).
For information on Wolves ticket plans for the 2024-25 season—everything from single-game tickets to Flex Packs to group outings—visit chicagowolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
