ROSEMONT, Ill.—The Wolves opened a five-game homestand by falling to the Cleveland Monsters 4-1 on Saturday night at Allstate Arena.
Bradly Nadeau scored his team-leading 19th goal of the season for the Wolves but that was all the offense Chicago could muster as it fell for the third game in a row. Four different Monsters tallied and former Wolves forward Rocco Grimaldi recorded three assists to help Cleveland snap a three-game losing skid in the first of back-to-back contests between the teams.
“We have to find a way to figure out how to start the game on time,” Wolves captain Josiah Slavin said. “Other teams are coming in hard and playing us hard and we’re not getting to our game right away We need to find that desperation in our game right from the start.”
After a scoreless first period, Cleveland opened a 2-0 advantage after two frames on goals by Dylan Gambrell and Stefan Matteau.
Madison Bowey’s tally padded the Monsters lead but Nadeau’s strike midway through the third period trimmed the Wolves’ deficit.
With the Wolves on the power play, Nadeau took a feed from Justin Robidas and fired a one-timer from the inside edge of the left circle past Cleveland netminder Jet Greaves to the stick side. Robidas and Ty Smith were awarded assists on the score.
Roman Ahcan capped the scoring for the Monsters with an empty-net goal in the waning seconds.
Dustin Tokarski (24 saves) took the loss in goal for the Wolves while Greaves (32 saves) earned the win for the Monsters.
Chicago fell to 24-19-2-0 on the season while Cleveland improved to 25-14-4-4.
Next up: The Wolves host the Cleveland Monsters on Sunday (3 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.
