Wolves score late to edge Moose

The Chicago Wolves completed a weekend sweep of the Moose with a 3-2 victory Sunday in Manitoba.

Nick Swaney scored the game-winner with 55 seconds remaining in the third period and Domenick Fensore and Ryan Suzuki also had goals as the Wolves won their third in a row to pull into a tie with the Grand Rapids Griffins for third place in the Central Division with five regular-season games remaining.

Juha Jaaska and Bradly Nadeau each chipped in with two assists as Chicago captured the season series between the Central rivals 6-2-0-0.

The Wolves wasted little time in grabbing the lead when Fensore found the back of the net 4 minutes, 11 seconds into the opening period. The defenseman converted off a feed from Josiah Slavin and beat Moose netminder Domenic DiVincentiis to the glove side from in close. Slavin and Jaaska had assists on Fensore’s ninth goal of the season.

In the second period, Chicago extended the lead to 2-0 on Ryan Suzuki’s 10th goal of the season. The veteran forward cruised into the slot and banged home a pass from Jaaska from behind the goal line that DiVincentiis couldn’t glove. Jaaska and Bradly Nadeau were awarded assists.

The Moose came out firing in the third and knotted the score at 2-2 early on with goals by Mason Shaw and Liam Malmquist just 1:14 apart.

With the clock winding down, the Wolves were awarded a power play and Swaney cashed in when the veteran forward redirected a point shot from Ty Smith past DiVincentiis. On Swaney’s ninth goal of the season, Smith and Nadeau had assists.

Spencer Martin (22 saves) earned the win in goal for the Wolves while DiVincentiis (27 saves) suffered the loss for the Moose.

Chicago ran its record to 35-28-4-0 on the season while Manitoba dropped to 23-39-3-3.