ROSEMONT, Ill. – After taking a 3-0 lead in the game, Chicago Wolves head coach Don Lever and the 3,221 fans at the Allstate Arena underwent a near total meltdown as the Milwaukee Admirals fought back and won, 5-4, to send the West Division semifinal series back to Milwaukee for Game Six.
The only bright spot for Chicago was the team’s power play, which converted on three of the five opportunities.
“They stuck to the basics and did the dump and chase and they got a couple of goals,” said Lever. “Our coverage was there, but we just didn’t see the guys who were wide open. They made some real nice plays but we shut ‘er off. You got to play this game for 60 minutes, and somehow every second game we refuse to do that.”
The Wolves came out fast. Fifty-three seconds in, right wing Tim Stapleton scored on a sequence where it seemed like every Wolves player touched the puck. At the 12:18 mark, right wing Spencer Machacek grabbed the puck that was in front of the Admirals netminder, Mark Dekanich, spun around behind the net and backhanded a shot. Dekanich made the initial save but dropped the puck as three Wolves players swarmed in front, and center Kevin Doell jammed the puck on in for the two goal lead.
At the end of the first, Admiral center Ben Guite was given a minor for high sticking. On the man advantage, Matt Anderson angled a shot from the near circle that banked behind the net to right wing Joey Crabb, who wedged the puck in between the post and Dekanich. Rookie Chet Pickard then came in to relieve Dekanich in goal.
Five minutes later, Milwaukee struck as center Mike Santorelli got the puck to Andreas Thuresson at the point, who fired a shot in past Peter Mannino. The tide seemed to begin to turn after two penalties were called on Chicago, giving the Admirals 1:40 on the two-man advantage. The Wolves managed to keep things close on the penalty kill and just a minute later, found themselves up two men. With one second left on the advantage, Anthony Stewart was credited with shoveling the puck in off a goal mouth scramble. On the play, Stewart was given a goaltender interference call after being pushed into the net by a Milwaukee player and crashing into Pickard, who appeared to hit his head on the ice and had to leave the game.
Milwaukee surged for the rest of the game. Mark Santorelli easily skated through the Wolves defense unchallenged and able to get one past Mannino’s pads to bring them within two goals. Under a minute later, the Ads struck again, as Guite redeemed himself and collected a rebound and slipped the goal on in to give the Wolves only a one goal lead going into the third.
Both teams came out in the third playing very tentatively. Milwaukee took advantage of the tight play when Admirals left wing Ryan Thang broke in and easily get a top shelf shot in over Mannino’s shoulder for the game-tying goal at 10:53 of the period. Seventeen minutes in, Wolves captain Jason Krog was called for a borderline slashing call. Milwaukee capitalized on the penalty as right winger Chris Mueller ripped a pass from defenseman Jon Blum that got in high in the net for the game winner.
Dekanich settled down after coming back in saving 18 of the 21 he face while Pickard went 9 for 10 before having to leave the game. Mannino stopped 27 of the 32 he faced for the loss.
The Admirals have the momentum, but the Wolves still have a chance to finish the series off on Friday.
Three Stars were: Alexander Sulzer (Milwaukee), Third Star with three assists; Matt Anderson (Chicago), Second Star with two assists; and Chris Mueller (Milwaukee), First Star with the game winner and an assist.
West Division Semifinal – Series “G” (best-of-7) W1-Chicago Wolves vs. W4-Milwaukee Admirals Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 14 – Milwaukee 5 at Chicago 6 Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 16 – Milwaukee 0 at Chicago 3 Game 3 – Sat., Apr. 17 – Chicago 0 at Milwaukee 6 Game 4 – Mon., Apr. 19 – Chicago 1 at Milwaukee 0 Game 5 – Wed., Apr. 21 – Milwaukee 5 at Chicago 4 *Game 6 – Fri., Apr. 23 – Chicago at Milwaukee, 7:00 *Game 7 – Mon., Apr. 26 – Milwaukee at Chicago, 7:00
Chicago Wolves leads series 3-2
Contact Matt.Chin@prohockeynews.com
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