Thanks to a timely splash of offense, the Wolves overcame the dehydration of goaltender Wendell Young to pull out a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Vipers in the Turner Cup finals’ opener Saturday before 9,811 at the Horizon.
Alexander Semak rifled a one-time shot past Detroit goaltender Jeff Reese with 8 minutes 11 seconds left in regulation to snap a 2-2 tie. Tim Breslin then added an empty-net goal with 29 seconds left to nail down the Wolves’ victory in the best-of-seven International Hockey League series.
For two periods, it didn’t appear the Wolves would need late heroics.
They owned a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes on a pair of goals by Steve Maltais. Had it not been for sharp goaltending by Reese and solid Vipers’ penalty-killing, the margin might have been larger.
But after two periods, Young became ill from dehydration. Despite taking fluids intravenously during intermissions, he was unable to return for the third period and was replaced by Stephane Beauregard.
“I like to use both my goaltenders and was thinking for the long haul in the series,” Wolves coach John Anderson said.
But Beauregard was beaten on the Vipers’ first two shots of the frame, both of which were tough chances.
Detroit’s Dan Kesa scored a short-handed breakaway goal 51 seconds into the third frame. Andy Bezeau got free in close and made it 2-2 at 1:59.
“We’re trying not to let things rattle us,” Anderson said. “But I’ll tell you, after they got that second goal, our bench went down a little.”
Not for long, however. The Wolves rebounded using one of their most visible weapons, puck-handling skill.
Semak fired in his game-winner after taking a perfect pass from Tom Tilley.
“I took one step and was going to shoot,” Tilley said. “Then I saw him out of the corner of my eye.”
The Wolves had chances to take control early.
They cashed in early on their first power-play chance, but wasted four other man advantages in the first period.
“In the first period, we spent about 12 minutes in the (penalty box),” said Detroit coach Steve Ludzik. “I think our guys might have been too aggressive, too emotional at the start.”
Maltais opened the scoring at 1:57 with a power-play goal when he tipped Bob Nardella’s shot from the left circle.
The Wolves kept up the offensive energy and pressure to draw four more Detroit minors. However, the Vipers’ penalty-killers held their ground and denied the Wolves prime-scoring chances.
Maltais struck again at 12:38 of the second period to complete a two-on-one with Ravil Gusmanov.
“If we’re going to try to skate with Chicago, we’ll be in trouble,” said Ludzik. “We can’t play with their finesse players. The shot and penalties have to come down and the discipline has to go up.”
