ROCKFORD, Ill.—The Wolves took the ice for their final road contest before the All-Star Break when they faced the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night at BMO Center.
Bradly Nadeau scored twice, Domenick Fensore had a goal and Nick Swaney chipped in two assists as the Wolves topped the IceHogs 3-2 to run their winning streak to three games.
“We just kept it simple,” Fensore said. “We talked a lot before the game that if you don’t have a play, just put it in, go to work, forecheck hard and put pressure on their ‘D.’ We did that and that was the key.”
The Wolves got off to a fast start when Nadeau lit the lamp just one minute into the contest. The rookie set up in the slot, took a pass from behind the goal line from Justin Robidas and blasted a one-timer past Rockford netminder Drew Commesso to the stick side. Robidas and Nick Swaney recorded assists on the score.
Rockford pulled even midway through the opening period on a goal by Artyom Levshunov but the Wolves regained the lead in the waning seconds of the first.
While on the power play, Fensore walked in on Commesso and unleashed a wrist shot from the left dot that sailed over the goalie’s left shoulder for the defenseman’s fifth goal of the season. Scott Morrow and Nikita Pavlychev were awarded assists. The tally extended Fensore’s points streak to five games (three goals, two assists).
“It was just a nice play by Scott to walk the line and pass it to me,” Fensore said. “I saw Pavlychev in front and he’s been doing a great job with screens for us so I threw it on net and the goalie couldn’t see it.”
The IceHogs’ Joey Anderson scored on the power play midway through the second to even things at 2-2 but again the Wolves answered late when Nadeau struck again.
This time, the 19-year-old wired a wicked wrist shot from the right circle that Commesso could only wave at as it zoomed by him to the glove side. Ty Smith and Swaney assisted on Nadeau’s team-leading 14th goal of the season that gave the Wolves a 3-2 advantage heading into the second intermission.
Neither team scored in the third as the Wolves recorded their fourth win in their last five games.
Dustin Tokarski (26 saves) picked up the win in goal for the Wolves. Commesso (26 saves) took the loss for the IceHogs.
Chicago moved to 22-16-2-0 on the season while Rockford fell to 16-19-5-1.
“Coach Cam (Abbott) mentioned before the game to really hunker down for these games (before the break),” Fensore said. “These are important games for us. We’ll really need these points in April so we want to focus on these games. We have one more to go (Saturday night).”
Next up: The Wolves host the Manitoba Moose on Saturday night (7 p.m.) at Allstate Arena.
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.
