Wolves Face Elimination Despite Bolstered Lineup

You’d think they would have learned something from round one. But here we are, the Chicago Wolves are one loss away from being out of the Calder Cup race. Two of the most high scoring teams in the American League proved once again to know how to finish.

Easily the biggest talking point of the day were the additions to the Wolves roster. Ivan Barbashev, Zach Sanford and Jordan Schmaltz were all reassigned to the affiliate Monday morning. If you’re wondering why Magnus Paajarvi wasn't sent to the Wolves as well it's due to the fact that the 10th overall pick from the 2009 draft was on the Blues lineup at the trade deadline. Per AHL rules that makes Paajarvi ineligible to play.

The beefed up lineup did pan out to an extent as Schmaltz did have an assist and Sanford was all over the ice, one of the better players for the Wolves on the ice. Kenny Agostino added to his goal count in the post season with two, putting his total at five currently. Tage Thompson knocked in the third goal for the Wolves, his second of the playoffs and third point total. But that was all anyone could get past Griffins goalie Jared Coreau who put up 24 saves. Coreau now sits at a .907 save percentage and has only lost once this year in the playoffs.

You never want to put the blame on the goalie but this just wasn't Ville Husso’s night, making 32 saves on 37 shots, the final goal being an empty netter. The 22 year old gave up far too many juicy rebounds and has not looked himself the past two games. You only have to rewind the tape back to Saturday, Husso allowed three goals on nine shots and was pulled pretty quickly that game. Currently he’s played 44 games total this year, his second heaviest workload as a professional. Last season for HIFK Helsinki Husso played 54 games. Could the prospect be slowing down just a tad? Head coach Craig Berube does have a few days to decide on if Jordan Binnington will get his first start of the series. Binnington did play the bulk of the game Saturday night, 48:13 toi and made 30 saves on 31 shots. The Wolves play the Griffins in a must win game five Saturday night at 7:oo pm.