ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Chicago Wolves’ bid for a seventh-straight win on home ice was thwarted on Sunday by their divisional rival, the Houston Aeros, when Houston scored four goals in the final period enroute to a 6-3 victory.
The Wolves were playing their fourth game in five nights and fatigue might have played factor. All but one of the games were played at the Allstate Arena.
Chicago head coach Don Granato said Sunday games have become unpredictable because of intangibles and focus, not fatigue.
“Everybody deals with bus rides, everybody deals with injuries, call-ups,” Granato said. “Had we converted early you might have saw the reverse happen to them. You don’t feel the fatigue when things end up when you get the bounces you need. And no discredit to them because they worked hard and they converted on their chances, they converted on our mistakes. They were just a little more focused, possibly.”
Last Wednesday was a different story as the Wolves coasted past the Peoria Rivemen, 5-1. Right wing Joey Crabb returned to the team after a decent stint with the parent Atlanta Thrashers notched the team’s first hat trick of the season, accompanied by an assist. Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec was stellar, stopping 30 shots.
Two days later the Wolves traveled to Grand Rapids to face the Griffins and the story was much different than the last game. The Wolves fell, 6-3, as six different Griffins scored on 40 shots that were directed at Pavelec.
The team’s seesaw fortunes continued Saturday as the Wolves faced their divisional leader, the Milwaukee Admirals. The outcome benefited the Wolves as both teams played a defensive battle as the 10,815 Chicago fans celebrated a victory.
In Sunday’s game against Houston, Chicago struck first on a two-man advantage, when Jeff Hamilton fired a shot from the blue line on in past Houston’s Nolan Schaefer at the 6:28 mark. But Houston evened things up near the end of the period, as John Lammers was able to backhand a shot on up above Pavelec’s stick side shoulder and in. Chicago had six power play chances in the first period. “We created a lot of chances and we couldn’t convert on them,” said Granato
Each team tallied a goal in the second, with the Aeros stricking first as Parco Rosa was able to take a shot through the open net as Pavelec was drawn out of postion. Wolves winger Spencer Machacek fired a puck on net that deflected off a defender and barely missed the next for a power play tally near the end of the period.
But all that fell apart for the Wolves as one of their alumni from last year, right wing Jesse Schultz, scored two goals to seal the victory for the Aeros.Turnovers were the key to the Wolves downfall this time. Corey Locke and Matt Kassian rounded out the scoring for Houston. But that was not the end of the scoring for the Wolves. Pavelec was pulled from the net with just under three minutes left. Crabb was able to power a shot in but it was too little too late for the home team.
Pavelec went 20 for 26 on saves while Schaefer blocked 23 of the 26 shots.
The injury list continues with the Wolves as Grant Stevenson went out with a leg injury in the first Houston game, joining Brett Sterling (hand) and Steve Martins (leg).
With Crabb returning from the Atlanta Thrashers, the team called up two wingers, Wolves scoring leader Joe Motzko and Colin Stuart.
Wolves Goaltender Brent Krahn, who was on loan from the Dallas Stars organization, was called up to the big club after shutting out these same Houston Aeros a week ago. He might get a start soon; Marty Turco is set to get a breather after playing in 23 consecutive games.
Contact the author at matt.chin@prohockeynews.com
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