Wolves advance to conference finals

Photo: Ross Dettman

The Chicago Wolves will play for the Western Conference championship after a 3-1 victory over the Iowa Wild on Monday night.

The Wolves wrapped up their Central Division Finals series in six games, beating the Wild at home for the third straight time.

Daniel Carr and Cody Glass broke a 1-1 tie with goals 25 seconds apart late in the second period, sending Chicago to its first conference finals appearance since 2008.

Following a scoreless opening period, the Wolves took a 1-0 lead at 4:27 of the second on a power-play goal from Curtis McKenzie, who wristed a shot home from below the left faceoff dot. It was McKenzie’s fifth goal in the last three games.

The Wild tied things up at 13:22 as Hunter Warner scored off a faceoff win by Cal O’Reilly, coming with four seconds remaining in an Iowa power play.

Carr put Chicago in front to stay with 2:28 to go in the middle frame, redirecting a centering pass from Gage Quinney that trickled just over the goal line behind Andrew Hammond for a shorthanded tally.

The Wolves doubled their lead with 2:03 remaining in the second when a long shot by Nic Hague hit traffic in front and Glass swept the loose puck home for his fourth goal of the postseason.

Oscar Dansk (6-3) made 22 saves on the night, and finished the series with 13 goals allowed on 146 shots (2.08, .911).

Hammond (5-6) stopped 23 shots for Iowa in Game 6.

Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
C1-Chicago Wolves vs. C3-Iowa Wild
Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – CHICAGO 3, Iowa 2 (OT) | Recap/Highlights
Game 2 – Thu., May 2 – CHICAGO 4, Iowa 3 | Recap/Highlights
Game 3 – Sun., May 5 – IOWA 2, Chicago 0 | Recap/Highlights
Game 4 – Wed., May 8 – IOWA 2, Chicago 1 | Recap/Highlights
Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Chicago 7, IOWA 4 | Recap/Highlights
Game 6 – Mon., May 13 – CHICAGO 3, Iowa 1