Late in the second period, Wolves goaltender Wendell Young held up play to examine his glove.
First Young adjusted the stitching. Then the exasperated goalie decided he needed new leather.
The move was unusual, but not all that surprising. The glove had failed Young to the tune of five goals in the first two periods.
Young called for the new mitt with 5 minutes 49 seconds to play in the second period, but the switch did little good as the Wolves were beaten by the Las Vegas Thunder 7-5 in Game 3 of the IHL’s Western Conference playoff semifinals before 5,235 at the Horizon.
The Wolves now trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Friday at the Horizon.
The Thunder seemingly put the game away early in the third period, when Sergei Zholtok’s goal gave Las Vegas a 6-4 lead.
But the Wolves responded six minutes later when Steve Maltais deflected a blast off the stick of Chicago defenseman Doug Crossman for a power-play goal.
But it wasn’t enough, as the Thunder shut down Chicago and added an empty-netter with one second to play.
The Wolves’ offense was humming early, as the team scored twice in the game’s first 1:40.
Chicago’s first goal came when Maltais fed defensman Steve Bancroft in front of the net.
Just 27 seconds later, Chicago struck again when Rob Brown secured the puck off the boards just outside the red line. Brown, the IHL’s regular-season scoring king, sneaked a shot past Thunder goalie Rick Knickle for a 2-0 lead.
It was an embarrassing moment for Knickle, and it would be his last. Knickle was replaced with usual starter Pokey Reddick, who had lost his job after struggling earlier in the playoffs.
The switch paid dividends, as the Wolves were stymied the rest of the period. Meanwhile, Las Vegas’ offense awoke erupting for three straight goals.
The first came when winger Grigori Panteleyev put a wrist shot past Young’s glove side.
Young looked shaky when the Thunder beat him for their next two goals, the first by Patrice Lefebvre on a power play and the second by Panteleyev.
Panteleyev’s short-handed goal had to be disheartening for Young, who managed to get a piece of the slap shot. But he couldn’t block enough of it as Las Vegas took a 3-2 lead into the first intermission.
The Wolves stormed back in the second period, taking a 4-3 lead when Brown gave Crossman a perfect feed in front of the goal and Crossman went stick-side to beat Reddick.
