Wolves ride special teams to victory

An impressive special-teams effort carried the Chicago Wolves to a 4-0 win over the Rochester Americans on Thursday night and a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five Western Conference quarterfinal series.

The Wolves will look to wrap up the series in Game 4 on Friday.

Chicago, which ranked last in the 30-team AHL on the power play in the regular season (12.6 percent), netted three power-play goals in Game 3 after opening the scoring with a shorthanded marker.

The Wolves are now 5-for-18 with the man advantage in the series.

Adam Cracknell scored twice in a span of 1:48 during the first period to stake Chicago to a 2-0 lead, and Keith Aucoin and Ty Rattie scored third-period power-play goals.

Dmitrij Jaskin and Brent Regner each notched two assists.

Jake Allen (2-1), who led the AHL with seven shutouts in the regular season, made 18 saves for his first career playoff whitewash. Andrey Makarov (1-2) finished with 26 stops.

Western Conference Quarterfinals – Series “F” (best-of-5)
2-Chicago Wolves vs. 7-Rochester Americans
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 25 – Chicago 4, ROCHESTER 3 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 26 – ROCHESTER 3. Chicago 2
Game 3 – Thu., May 1 – CHICAGO 4, Rochester 0
Game 4 – Fri., May 2 – Rochester at Chicago, 8:30
*Game 5 – Sun., May 4 – Rochester at Chicago, 4:00
   *if necessary… All times Eastern