WOLVES FORCE GAME 7, BEAT HOGS IN ROCKFORD

IceHogs fall to 6-2 against the Wolves in the MetroCentre

Rockford, Ill.- The Rockford IceHogs cut a three-goal lead to one, but couldn't finish the comeback as the Chicago Wolves won 4-3 and forced a Game 7 at the Allstate Arena. The IceHogs gave up four power-play goals in just under eight minutes in the second frame to give the Wolves a 4-1 lead.

To start the scoring, Petri Kontiola potted his fourth goal of the postseason on a power play at 15:33 in the first period. Martin St. Pierre and Troy Brouwer were credited with the assists.

But then the Jason Krog scored a power-play marker at 10:48 in the second with assists from Brett Sterling and Joel Kwiatkowski to tie the game. And at 14:40 in the same period, Kwiatkowski scored another power-play goal to take a 2-1 lead. Darren Hayder and Krog had the helpers.

The man-advantage hits kept coming as Nathan Oystrick got in on the action with a 4-on-3 power-play tally at 16:32 with helpers from Jesse Schultz and Bryan Fahey. Krog added a second marker at 18:25 to put the Wolves up 4-1 while skating on a two-man advantage. Haydar and Kwiatkowski contributed on the helpers.

But the IceHogs comeback started on a 4-on-4 tally from Kontiola at 19:02 with one second left on a Wolves penalty. Kris Versteeg and Bryan Bickell had the assists.

And Versteeg made the score 4-3 with a power-play goal 58 seconds into the third frame with helpers from St. Pierre and Kontiola.

That's how the score remained, however, as the Wolves evened the best-of-seven series at three. The final game of the series will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Allstate Arena.

Though there six power-play goals, there were only 71 penalty minutes between the two teams and 40 of them came in the final minute of the game. The Wolves finished 4-7 on the power play, including a 4-6 showing in the second frame. The IceHogs were 2-8 on the man-advantage.

After the home team won 14 of the first 15 games between the two teams between the regular season and playoffs, the road team has now won the last two in the series. Ondrej Pavelec finished with 31 saves, while Crawford had 22 saves.

Next Game: Tuesday, May 13 at Chicago Wolves (Game 7 of the West Division Finals). Game time is 7 p.m. Chicago and Rockford meet in a decisive Game 7 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont. The winner will move on to the Western Conference Finals.