Wolves Halt Rampage, 5-2

The Chicago Wolves jumped out to a 4-0 first period lead and held off a third-period rally to defeat the San Antonio Rampage, 5-2, at the Allstate Arena Sunday night.

The win snapped a five-game losing skid for Chicago (22-19-2-3), which was playing its fourth game in five days and seventh straight contest on home ice.

Forwards Darren Haydar, Jared Ross, Ryan Garbutt and Tim Stapleton (G, A) and defenseman Paul Postma (G, A), tallied the Wolves goals, while center Andre Deveaux contributed two assists.  Netminder Drew MacIntyre (5-4-1) held off 33 shots in goal.

"We played a strong first period," said Head Coach Don Lever.  "They are a banged up hockey team and we took advantage of that.  I would have liked to see us hold on to the shutout, but we'll take the two points."

Haydar gave the Wolves a 1-0 lead, 2:02 into the game when forward Tim Miller fed the puck out from behind the net and Haydar one-timed a shot past Rampage goaltender Al Montoya.

Chicago took a 2-0 lead with a tally from Ross just over four minutes later. Montoya kicked out defenseman Mike Siklenka's long shot but Ross was there to pop the rebound back into the net.

Garbutt stole the puck in the neutral zone near San Antonio's bench, raced into the zone and ripped a shot past Montoya at 10:39 of the first frame to give Chicago a 3-0 lead.

The Wolves extended their lead, 4-0 at 19:02 of the first period. Defenseman Boris Valabik worked the puck across to Postma, who wound up for a long blast that Stapleton nicked in front of the net and sent up over Montoya's head.

San Antonio (25-17-1-0) got on the board at 1:39 of the third period when right wing Jamie Bates collected a turnover at the blue line and passed to Ryan Hollweg, who streaked down the slot and slapped a shot past MacIntyre.

The Rampage cut Chicago's lead in half, 4-2, on the power play when Andrew Ebbert flung a shot straight down the slot, which found its way through traffic in front of the net and past MacIntyre.

With Chicago working on the power-play late in the third period, Postma uncorked a blast from the blueline that zipped past Montoya, top shelf, to finish scoring at 5-2 with 8:03 left to play.

Montoya (7-8-0) turned aside 27 shots for the Rampage.

The Wolves will visit the Grand Rapids Griffins for a pair of tilts next weekend, beginning on Friday at 6 p.m.

San Antonio     0    0     2    --  2

Chicago          4    0     1    --  5

First Period---1, Chicago, Haydar 14 (Miller, Zubarev), 2:02; 2, Chicago, Ross 13 (Silkenka, Deveaux), 6:37 pp; 3, Garbutt 10 (Deveaux), 10:39; 4, Chicago, Stapleton 9 (Postma, Valabik), 19:02.  Penalties---Stone, San Antonio (interference), 4:42; Hollweg, San Antonio (fighting), 7:09; Valabik, Chicago (fighting), 7:09.

Second Period---None. Penalties---Mosienko, San Antonio (hooking), 3:08; Siklenka, Chicago (hooking), 6:52; Yonkman, San Antonio (cross-checking), 13:20; Postma, Chicago (tripping), 14:36; Valabik, Chicago (cross-checking) 16:02; Garbutt, Chicago (slashing), 17:50; Goncharov, San Antonio (tripping), 19:29.

Third Period---5, San Antonio, Hollweg 8 (Bates), 1:39; 6, San Antonio, Ebbett 10 (Bates, Stone), 2:53 pp; 7, Chicago, Postma 8 (Stapleton, Dawes), 11:57 pp. Penalties---Garbutt, Chicago (holding the stick), 1:50; Pope, San Antonio (slashing), 7:33; Watt, San Antonio (boarding), 11:10; May, San Antonio (roughing), 14:04; Deveaux, Chicago (roughing), 14:04

Shots on goal---San Antonio: 7-14-14--35. Chicago: 15-7-10--32.  Power plays---San Antonio: 1-5. Chicago: 2-6.  Goalies---San Antonio, Montoya (27-32). Chicago, MacIntyre (33-35).  A---5,086.  Referee---Shaun Davis.  Linesmen---Roger Behling and Mike Hamilton.