Jim Mullin
2/5/2010
The Chicago Wolves' persistence in the third period paid off on Thursday night.
Chicago outshot Abbotsford 17-6 in the final period and Matt Anderson banged home a loose puck with under two minutes to go as the Wolves a topped the Heat 3-2 in American Hockey League action.
Anderson managed to get a few whacks at a loose puck in the crease and popped it past Heat netminder David Shantz high glove-side.
With the win, Chicago (29-17-3) improved to 14-2-3 in its last 17, while Abbotsford (21-23-7) is winless in six.
``Pretty even game all round, we were just fortunate to get that last goal,'' said veteran defenceman Chris Chelios.
``The start was really important we didn't want to give the other team any momentum. They outplayed us in the second period and got a couple power-play goals.''
The Wolves opened the scoring early in the first on a power play of their own when Brett Sterling jammed a loose puck past Shantz.
Abbotsford's best chance of the opening period came when Jason Jaffray took a great feed from Evan Barlow. Jaffray beat Chicago starter Peter Mannino, but rang his shot off the post.
Steffan Kronwall tied things at 1-1 for Abbotsford on the power play early in the second when he beat Mannino with a blast from the point.
The Wolves restored their lead just 23 seconds later when Tim Stapleton one-timed a feed from Anderson past Shantz.
``I thought we could've played a little bit better,'' said Stapleton. ``I thought they took it to us a lot tonight and we were just fortunate to get a win.''
The Heat fought back again as Josh Meyers one-timed a feed from Kronwall and beat Mannino high blocker side to make it 2-2 after two periods.
``The power play came through for us tonight, but you're not going to win games when you're sloppy in your own zone,'' said Meyers. ``The whole third period we were just waiting around waiting for them to do it.''
Abbotsford finished the night 2-for-4 with the man advantage while Chicago scored just once on five opportunities.
Mannino made 22 saves for his 14th win of the season, while Shantz made 33 saves in the loss.
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