The Chicago Wolves wrapped up their season series with the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday night in Michigan.
Noah Philp scored twice, Felix Unger Sorum had a goal and an assist and Ryan Suzuki also tallied to propel the Wolves to a 4-1 victory over their Central Division rivals. Ronan Seeley chipped in two assists to help Chicago finish the season series over the Western Conference-leading Griffins with a 4-2-2-2 record.
After Grand Rapids jumped to a lead early in the opening period on a power-play score by Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, the Wolves reeled off four consecutive goals to rally for the win.
While killing a penalty later in the first, Philp scooped up the puck in the neutral zone, deked around a Griffins defender and ripped a shot from between the circles that beat Grand Rapids netminder Trey Augustine to the stick side. Unger Sorum and Seeley picked up assists on Philp’s shorthanded tally. The helper extended Unger Sorum’s points streak to seven games.
The score remained deadlocked into the third period when Suzuki struck for his 13th tally of the season in the early going. The veteran forward tapped a terrific backhand, cross-crease pass by Evan Vierling into the back of the net. Vierling and Cal Foote had assists.
The Wolves extended the lead to 3-1 on Philp’s second of the contest midway through the third. While skating on the power play, Philp snapped a shot from the top of the right circle that solved Augustine to the glove side. Seeley and Nikita Pavlychev recorded assists.
Unger Sorum capped the scoring with an empty-netter in the waning moments to give the Wolves an important two points as they look to secure second place in the Central.
Pyotr Kochetkov made the start in goal for the Wolves while on a conditioning stint from the Carolina Hurricanes and made seven saves in one period of action. Amir Miftakhov (19 saves) earned the win in relief for the Wolves while Augustine (26 saves) suffered the loss in his professional debut.
Chicago moved to 32-21-8-6 on the season while Grand Rapids fell to 49-14-4-1.
