Wolves drop Game 4 to Checkers, near Calder Cup elimination
The Chicago Wolves are on the brink of elimination from the Calder Cup Final after coughing up their first two-goal lead of the series, falling to the Charlotte Checkers 5-3 on Thursday in Game 4 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
The Wolves, the top minor-league affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights, will try to rally from a 3-1 series deficit in Game 5 on Saturday in Rosemont.
Wolves defenseman Nic Hague went the length of the ice and backhanded a shot past Checkers goaltender Dustin Tokarski 45 second into the contest to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Go on and take it coast-to-coast, big @nichague14!#LastTeamStanding #CalderCup #CHAvsCHI pic.twitter.com/N1ovjd7Lni
— Chicago Wolves (@Chicago_Wolves) June 7, 2019
Defenseman Zac Leslie and right wing Brooks Macek also scored for the Wolves, who held a 3-1 advantage until Checkers center Martin Necas scored on the power play with a minute left in the second period.
Center Nicolas Roy needed only 32 seconds at the start of the third period to tie the game at 3-3 for Charlotte, and left wing Aleksi Saarela gave the Checkers the lead for good at 12:52, sending the puck past Wolves goaltender Oscar Dansk, who had 18 saves on 23 shots.
The Checkers are the top farm team of the Carolina Hurricanes.
Top Vegas prospects Cody Glass and Zach Whitecloud also play for the Wolves as well as Daniel Carr, the AHL MVP. Carr played six games with the Knights last season.
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