ROSEMONT, Ill.—The Wolves opened a critical set of three games in three days by falling to the Manitoba Moose 3-2 in a shootout Friday night at Allstate Arena.
Max Comtois had two goals in regulation for the Wolves but Jeff Malott notched the winner in the shootout for the Moose. Chicago earned a point, but Manitoba pulled four points ahead of the Wolves for the fifth and final Central Division postseason berth.
“We just have to close those out,” Comtois said. “We played well but had just a few too many turnovers at the blue line that we have to take care of, especially against a team like that that has skills and is quick.”
After a scoreless opening period, the Wolves struck first while killing a penalty. Comtois and Rocco Grimaldi broke into the Manitoba zone on a two-on-one and played give-and-go with Grimaldi returning a pass from Comtois, who then shoveled a one-timer past Moose goaltender Thomas Milic to the stick side. Grimaldi and Matt Donovan earned assists on the play.
Manitoba answered a short time later with a shorthanded goal of its own with Ville Heinola finding the back of the net.
On that same Wolves power play, Comtois struck again when the forward took a pass from Domenick Fensore and wired a one-timer from the top of the right circle that sailed past Milic. Fensore and Nathan Sucese picked up assists on Comtois’ 14th goal of the season that gave Chicago a 2-1 advantage headed into the second intermission.
Early in the third, a goal by the Moose’s Nicholas Jones knotted the score at 2-2 and that’s the way it stood through overtime. Malott ended it in the fifth round of the shootout.
Adam Scheel (35 saves) suffered the tough-luck loss in goal for the Wolves while Milic (21 saves) earned the win for the Moose.
Chicago dropped to 21-28-3-3 on the season while Manitoba moved to 25-29-1-1.
“It’s playoff hockey for the last stretch of the season,” Comtois said. “Unless we play the right way, we’re going to struggle. We played some good hockey (Friday night), but we had just too many turnovers.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.