ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Chicago Wolves scored twice in the first period’s final minute to set the tone for a 4-1 victory over the Manitoba Moose on Monday night at Allstate Arena.
Forwards Pat Cannone, Ivan Barbashev, Jeremy Welsh and Ty Rattie scored for the Wolves, who won their third game in a row. Goaltender Pheonix Copley posted 23 saves for his third straight win.
“I thought Copley was solid, solid, solid,” said Wolves head coach John Anderson. “We didn’t make any unforced errors and we made a couple big plays when we had to.”
The Wolves (14-10-1-2) scored their first two goals in a 12-second span to take a 2-0 lead. Cannone opened the scoring at 19:09 when he set up shop in front of the crease and redirected Peter Harrold’s shot from the right point past Moose goaltender Eric Comrie.
Barbashev followed at 19:21 as Konrad Abeltshauser’s long pass banked off the boards and skidded down the right side of the Manitoba zone. Zach O’Brien caught up to the puck below the right circle and threaded a cross-crease pass to Barbashev for the tap-in.
Manitoba (8-16-1-2) cut the margin to 2-1 on Austen Brassard’s goal at 3:34 of the second. Two seconds after the Moose power play ended, Brassard posted in front of Wolves goaltender Pheonix Copley and redirected Ryan Olsen’s centering pass from the half-wall.
The Wolves responded at 15:33 of the second with a similar goal shortly after a power play concluded. As Manitoba’s fifth skater rushed to get into the zone, Welsh lined up a shot from the right circle and used Eriah Hayes’ leaping screen of Comrie to find the back of the net and give Chicago a 3-1 lead.
Rattie added an empty-net goal with 1:17 to go as defenseman Andre Benoit passed up his own chance at the open net and found Rattie in the slot for a backhander.
Copley (8-6-1) won for the third time in five days. Comrie (6-8-2) stopped 25 of 28 shots in the loss.
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