Lehtonen lets Chicago back in

Kari Lehtonen made 54 saves and helped kill off 15 of 16 shorthanded situations as Chicago earned a crucial 3-1 victory over Milwaukee on Saturday night, closing the Wolves’ series deficit to 2-1.

Game 4 is Monday evening in Rosemont, Ill.

Lehtonen made 16 saves in the first and 19 in each of the final two periods to preserve Chicago’s first win of the series.

Mike Weaver and Brian Swanson scored in the opening 16:33 of the game for the Wolves, and Derek MacKenzie added an empty-netter.

Brian Finley made his first appearance of the postseason for the Admirals and finished with 22 saves. Milwaukee outshot the Wolves 55-25 for the game.

The Admirals were officially 1-for-16 on the power play for the night, while Chicago was 0-for-7.

ROCHESTER 5, HAMILTON 1
Rochester took a commanding lead in the North Division final with a 5-1 victory over Hamilton on Saturday.

The Amerks go for the four-game sweep on Sunday evening.

Jason Pominville recorded a hat trick, Chris Taylor scored twice and Jason Botterill and Domenic Pittis added two assists each for Rochester, which has won six in a row and has outscored the Bulldogs 11-2 in the series.

Ryan Miller made 28 saves for the Amerks, who are one win away from the Western Conference final just two weeks after their backs were against the wall, trailing Syracuse 3-1 in their first-round series.

Attendance at the Blue Cross Arena for Game 3 was 8,486, the largest of this postseason in the AHL.

WILKES-BARRE 3, PHILADELPHIA 0
Andy Chiodo made 18 saves for his fourth win in as many decisions this postseason, helping Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to a 3-0 win over Philadelphia in Game 3 on Saturday.

Chiodo’s second playoff shutout gave the Penguins a 2-1 series lead.

Colby Armstrong, Michel Ouellet and Shane Endicott all scored for Wilkes-Barre, and Brooks Orpik tallied two assists.

Attendance was 8,092.