RUSSIAN INFLUENCE

Chicago Wolves 4 at GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 2

Nov. 5, 2016

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Ivan Barbashev scored twice on Saturday to pace the Chicago Wolves to a 4-2 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins at Van Andel Arena, a place that recently has been inhospitable to the visitors from Illinois.

Chicago’s regulation win was its first on the road in this series since Jan. 21, 2015. The Griffins had since gone 4-0-1-0 at home against their Central Division rivals, including a 3-1 decision in their Oct. 14 season opener that preceded a 4-2 win in the Windy City the following night.

Grand Rapids, now 5-4-0-0 on the season, will continue its four-game homestand and a busy November within friendly confines by hosting the defending champion Cleveland Monsters on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Chicago rookie Samuel Blais notched his first professional goal at 12:21 of the opening period, as he picked up a loose puck in the left circle, worked his way into the slot and scooped a hard backhand past Jared Coreau. The Wolves then stretched their advantage to 2-0 at the 16:40 mark, when Jordan Caron shed his defender behind the Grand Rapids net and slid the puck to Barbashev at the goalmouth for a tap-in.

Almost three minutes into the second frame, Tomas Nosek – making his season debut after recovering from injury – was awarded a penalty shot after being pulled down during a breakaway by Justin Selman, but he pushed his backhand try just wide of the right post. The Griffins, though, would solve Jordan Binnington at 13:44 on the 100th AHL goal of Ben Street’s career. From the top of the right circle, Robbie Russo slapped a backdoor pass to Street, who popped the puck into a gaping cage.

The Wolves (5-4-0-1) nursed their 2-1 lead into the third period and held it until 8:11 remained, when Tyler Bertuzzi crashed a party in front of the Chicago net to chip home a rebound. But Barbashev ripped a shot from the left faceoff dot past Coreau’s glove only 31 seconds later to break the short-lived deadlock and inadvertently cause a delay of several minutes, as the puck become irretrievably stuck in the net’s mesh and had to be cut free by a linesman.

Coreau went to the bench in favor of an extra attacker in the waning minutes, enabling former Griffin Landon Ferraro to score into the empty net at 19:03 after Anthony Mantha lost both an edge and control of the puck at center ice.

Each team was awarded just one ultimately unsuccessful power play on the night, a stark contrast to Friday’s 4-1 win over Iowa that saw the Griffins go 1-for-5 and hold the Wild scoreless in seven attempts.

Coreau’s 31 saves weren’t enough to earn him the victory on his 25th birthday, as his effort was trumped by Binnington’s 34 stops.

Note: Veteran AHL linesman Kevin Hall worked the final game of his career and was congratulated at center ice by a handshake line of players from both teams after the final horn.

Three Stars: 1. CHI Barbashev (two goals); 2. GR Street (goal, assist); 3. CHI Caron (two assists)