All Kwiatkowski on Western front
WOLVES 4, ICEHOGS 3 | Defenseman, Krog key power-play eruption to force Game 7
ROCKFORD -- The historic ice quake may not have registered on very many scales -- Richter, igloo or otherwise -- but it couldn't have been much better timed for the Wolves.
With their skates to the Calder Cup playoffs wall, the Wolves exploded for four power-play goals in the second period -- a postseason franchise record -- and hung on Sunday to beat the Rockford Icehogs 4-3 in Game 6 of their American Hockey League West Division finals.
Center Jason Krog keyed the foreign-ice quadfecta for the Wolves with the first and last goals and an assist. Defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski added a goal and two assists during the eight-minute rally, which extinguished a 1-0 Rockford lead and set the stage for a deciding Game 7 on Tuesday night at Allstate Arena.
''The first goal was big because we hadn't had much going and to bang in an ugly one really helped us,'' said Krog, whose initial score came at 10:48 of the second period.
That was followed by Kwiatkowski (14:40), Nathan Oystrick (16:32) and Krog (18:25), with right winger Darren Haydar assisting Kwiatkowski and Krog's closer.
But Rockford rallied in front of a Mother's Day turnout of 3,306 at the MetroCentre. Less than a minute after the Wolves posted the 4-1 marker, Rockford's Petri Kontiola scored his second goal of the game, with both teams a man short.
Fifty-eight seconds into the third period, Kris Versteeg beat Wolves goalie Ondrej Pavelec to pull the Icehogs within 4-3.
That was the last time Pavelec would be beaten. He finished with 31 saves -- 11 in the third period -- and the Wolves thwarted six of eight Rockford power plays, including the lone one in the final 20 minutes.
Rockford pulled goalie Corey Crawford -- a top Blackhawks prospect -- for almost the full final 90 seconds, but the artificial Icehogs advantage proved futile.
A final Rockford flurry inside the final 06.4 seconds also ended in a multiplayer brawl behind the Wolves net.
Since Rockford broke service 5-1 at Allstate Arena in Game 5 on Friday, both teams are now 2-1 at home in the series.
Said Wolves coach John Anderson: ''Going home for Game 7 sure beats anything else that we might have had to do after playing [in Rockford on Sunday].''
