MILWAUKEE—The Wolves extended their winning streak to three games with a 4-2 victory over the Admirals on Saturday night in Milwaukee.
Domenick Fensore had a goal and two assists while Bradly Nadeau, Ivan Ryabkin and Justin Robidas each scored to help the Wolves hand the Admirals their fifth loss in a row—the last three to Chicago.
“We stuck to our game plan and we executed when we had the chance,” Fensore said. “We play these guys a lot so it’s nice to get wins against them. We have a good little rivalry going with them.”
The Wolves seized the lead midway through the opening period when Nadeau potted his ninth goal of the season. The winger crashed the net and redirected a shot from the top of the left circle by Ryan Suzuki past Milwaukee netminder Magnus Chrona to the glove side to extend Nadeau’s goals streak to three contests. Suzuki and Fensore had assists on the tally.
The Admirals answered a short time later on a power-play goal by David Edstrom but the Wolves wasted little time to again take the lead.
Just 15 seconds after Edstrom’s score, Fensore worked the puck to the side of the Admirals goal where Ryabkin swooped in and knocked it into the net for his first professional goal and a 2-1 Wolves lead. Fensore and Noel Gunler earned assists.
With the clock winding down in the first, Fensore extended the Wolves lead to 3-1 when the defenseman raced out of the penalty box and fired a shot from the top of the right circle that beat Chrona to the stick side. The marker that came with .07 remaining in the period was assisted by Justin Robidas and Felix Unger Sorum.
“I was thinking about it in the box that if the puck squirted loose, I’d be on a breakaway,” Fensore said. “I knew we had no time left on the clock so I just kind of muffed it and it went in somehow.”
The Admirals cut the Wolves’ lead to 3-2 early in the second when Ryan Ufko cashed in while on the power play.
The score remained that way until Robidas’ empty-netter in the final seconds sealed the deal for the Wolves. Robidas’ eighth goal of the season was unassisted.
Amir Miftakhov (27 saves) earned the win in goal for the Wolves while Chrona (18 saves) took the loss for the Admirals.
Chicago moved to 12-7-3-1 on the season while Milwaukee fell to 12-9-2-0.
On Sunday at Allstate Arena, the Wolves will take on the Grand Rapids Griffins, who defeated the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday night to run their American Hockey League-best record to 21-1-0-1.
“Going against the best team in the league is always exciting,” Fensore said. “We’ve had it circled on the calendar. We really want to give it to them and keep playing the right way and see what happens.”
Up next: The Wolves host the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday at Allstate Arena (3 p.m.).