The Chicago Wolves had a chance to finish the job on Tuesday night, trying to earn the series sweep against the Grand Rapids Griffins. After a tight win in Game 1, the Wolves earned their 2-0 lead by erasing a two-goal deficit and winning Game 2 in Michigan in overtime. Felix Unger Sorum redirected a shot for his second goal of the night, stunning the crowd and pushing the Griffins to the brink.
The start of Game 3 was nearly identical to Saturday's contest. The Griffins jumped out to a 2-0 lead 4:30 into the contest, including another early power-play goal. Domenick Fensore cut the deficit in half by freezing a defender and snapping one past Michal Postava. Then, Justin Robidas tied it on the power play, bringing the Wolves even despite being outshot through 20 minutes.
Both power plays continued to roll early in the second period. For the third time in two games, Unger Sorum found the back of the net, clapping a one-timer home to give Chicago its first lead of the night. It lasted less than two minutes before Tyler Angle got Grand Rapids' second power-play goal of the contest to tie it again. Through 40 minutes, the score remained knotted at three.
For the second game in a row, the Wolves were on the wrong side of a lopsided shot differential during the third period. Grand Rapids outshot them 17-3 over the final 20 minutes, but they failed to reach a resolution. Cayden Primeau stopped all 17 attempts to keep the game tied at three, sending the teams to overtime once again.
Ultimately, this battle went to the Griffins. Just before the halfway point in the period, the winning goal came off the stick of Michael Brandsegg-Nygard from between the dots on Grand Rapid's 46th shot of the night, saving their season for at least another game.
With their season on the line, you knew the Griffins would throw everything they could out there to keep playing. They outshot the Wolves 46-20 in the game, doubling them up in shots in the first (16-8) before that egregious difference in the third. Cayden Primeau did all he could to prevent it from getting out of hand, stopping a season-high 42 shots.
The truth is that the Wolves need to start their games much better than they have the last two contests. They've put themselves in an immediate hole during the opening five minutes in Games 2 and 3. Chicago has done their best to work back into it both nights and get the game to overtime, but there's only so much flirting with fire that you can do before you get burnt.
If there's a silver lining to it all, it's that Felix Unger Sorum has found his scoring touch. He's on a four-game point streak with back-to-back multi-point efforts against the Griffins. Most importantly, he's putting the puck into the net. He has three goals in two games, including a pair on the power play. Unger Sorum is tied with Bradly Nadeau and Ryan Suzuki for the team lead with seven points.
Even with the loss, the Wolves hold a 2-1 series lead, needing just one more win to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Game 4 will be on Thursday night in Chicago at 8 pm, the same time that the Hurricanes will play Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. If the Griffins find a way to draw even in the series, the winner-take-all Game 5 will be in Grand Rapids on Saturday night.
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