Wolves Cap 4-Game Homestand with Loss to Griffins

By EmmaKate Austin

The Chicago Wolves hosted the Grand Rapids Griffins for a school-day game Tuesday morning, giving local schoolchildren the chance to watch and learn.

The Wolves played strong for the first 5 minutes, but then goalie Jordan Binnington allowed 3 goals in just over a minute and Chicago ultimately fell 5-0 to the Griffins.

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Several Griffins players contributed to the shutout. Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Callahan all notched goals in the first period, while Martin Frk added one in each the second and third period. Griffins goalie Jared Coreau made 28 saves.

Roster changes might have contributed to less-than-stellar play for the Wolves. Binnington was reassigned to Chicago on Sunday after a five-day stint with the St. Louis Blues. He was originally called up to back up goalie Brian Elliott, but didn’t play for the team during that time.

Wolves coach John Anderson acknowledged the difficulty of readjusting based on changing rosters, but said it’s something all AHL teams have to deal with.

“It hurts continuity, in the sense that our lines are never the same,” Anderson said. “We have to put in guys who haven’t seen some of our systems yet, so just one little breakdown in the system can cause a goal against.”

Photo at top: Jared Coreau makes a glove save in the first period as the Grand Rapids Griffins shut out the Chicago Wolves 5-0 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont. (EmmaKate Austin/Medill)