In their first season, the Wolves have enjoyed a fair measure of success against the International Hockey League’s top teams, including the Kalamazoo Wings.
Tuesday at the Horizon, the Wolves kept Kalamazoo, which leads the IHL’s Northern Division, in check most of the night. But the Wings did an even better job of shutting down the Wolves and clipped them 2-1 before 9,252.
The Wolves wasted a solid effort by goaltender Ray LeBlanc, who stopped 25 of 27 shots, and perfect work by their penalty-killers. Chicago shut down all five Kalamazoo power-play attempts.
While the Wings snapped a three-game winless streak, the Wolves (31-30-13) lost for the third time in their last four outings. They finished their season series with the Wings at 3-4-1.
It appears Chicago is destined to be a .500 team. Last week, the Wolves stretched a season-high winning streak to five. But at no point this season have they been more than four games above or two below the break-even point.
Tuesday, their top line of Steve Maltais, Brian Wiseman and Evgeny Davydov didn’t generate its usual adundant chances.
Maltais, however, had the Wolves’ lone goal, a shorthanded tally at 9 minutes 52 seconds of the second period. The left winger, who leads the IHL with 54 goals, stretched his point-scoring streak to 24 games.
Goals by Gord Donnelly and Mark Pederson had given Kalamazoo a 2-0 lead before Maltais connected.
Kalamazoo led 1-0 after the first period on Donnelly’s tally at 4:40. Donnelly, who was assigned to the Wings Tuesday by their NHL parent club, the Dallas Stars, fired a low shot past LeBlanc from the right circle after taking a feed from Neil Brady in the right corner.
The Wings stretched their lead to 2-0 at 5:44 of the second period on Pederson’s goal from the edge of the crease. Left uncovered, Pederson connected on a one-time shot after Mark Lawrence passed to him from behind the Wolves’ net.
Maltais cut it to 2-1 with his shorthanded tally at 9:52.
