ROSEMONT, Ill.—The Chicago Wolves earned a well-deserved point but had their three-game winning streak end as Grand Rapids defeated Chicago 2-1 in a shootout Sunday at Allstate Arena.
Justin Robidas scored but the Wolves couldn’t hold a third-period lead as the Griffins extended their franchise-high 11-game winning streak.
“They’re one of the best teams in the league so I’m pretty proud of our group,” Robidas said. “We stuck with it and just had some bad bounces and they capitalized late. So I think we played really well and battled through it.”
After a scoreless opening period, the Wolves struck a minute, 11 seconds in the middle frame on Robidas’ goal. Domenick Fensore forced a turnover at the Wolves’ blue line, sent a pass to Bradly Nadeau at the left boards, who found a streaking Robidas in the high slot. The forward then snapped a shot that beat Griffins netminder Carter Gylander to the blocker side. Nadeau and Fensore had assists on Robidas’ ninth tally of the season.
“Great entry by (Nadeau) and I was calling for it,” Robidas said. “(Nadeau) always finds a way to find me so great pass by him, and then I just kind of walked down Main Street and found an opening.”
Robidas’ goal stood late into the third period until Jakub Rychlovsky evened the score with 1:12 left on the clock. Rychlovsky’s third of the year was assisted by Tyler Angle and William Wallinder.
Overtime remained deadlocked and both teams headed to the shootout, where the Griffins’ John Leonard scored the lone goal against Wolves goalie Cayden Primeau.
Grand Rapids, which has an AHL-best 43 points, won for the 22nd time in 24 outings.
Gylander (27 saves) earned the win in goal for the Griffins while Primeau (18 saves) took the loss for the Wolves.
Grand Rapids improved to 22-1-0-1 on the season while Chicago fell to 12-7-3-2.
Up next: The Wolves host the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday at Allstate Arena (11 a.m.)