Sleep-deprived or not, the Wolves had no choice but to get ready for the game Sunday against the Milwaukee Admirals.
Coming off a five-hour bus ride from Des Moines after beating the Iowa Wild on Saturday night, the Wolves got back to their Hoffman Estates practice rink at around 3:30 a.m. They presumably got to sleep by 4 or 4:30 and reported to Allstate Arena for a 3:10 p.m. faceoff against the division-leading Admirals.
Wolves coach Rocky Thompson had a message for his players before the game: Prepare correctly and approach the matchup in the right way, and their bodies would respond.
“It’s just mental in my opinion,” Thompson said. “You prepare. You’re focused, and you don’t have any excuses. There are no excuses for me in the game. You do the best that you can, you prepare properly and your head’s in the right place.”
Thompson got the response he wanted. And despite the turnaround, the Wolves almost picked up two points but lost 3-2 in a shootout.
“It’s a very good point,” said Brandon Pirri, whose third-period goal sent the game to overtime. “[Milwaukee] is a first-place team, got a point. The schedule is not ideal. That’s not a secret. But we gutted it out, got three out of four [points] on a tough weekend. It’s pretty good.”
The weekend was tough for many reasons. It was also a success.
On Saturday, the Wolves beat second-place Iowa 4-3 despite starting with only 17 skaters and finishing with 16. Keegan Kolesar was recalled by the Vegas Golden Knights, and Jake Bischoff and Tyrell Goulbourne missed out because of illness. Reid Duke then left with an injury, but the Wolves still beat the Wild thanks to Paul Cotter’s third-period goal.
A day later, Kolesar was back. But the Wolves were without Duke and Bischoff and also didn’t have Gage Quinney (lower body), not to mention much sleep.
But the performance and strong weekend were encouraging for Pirri, who said he didn’t get home until 4 a.m.
“Ever since I’ve been here, we’re trending in the right direction,” Pirri said. “It’s going well. What did we have, [28] shots? And we slept four hours. At the beginning of the year, the guys were telling me that to get 20 was a good night. We’re working the system. Guys are getting more confident. It shows on all four lines.”
Thompson echoed that. He liked how the Wolves played both games and was happy with the three points.
“I felt like we could’ve gotten more,” Thompson said. “I thought our guys competed really hard, and they executed well. It’s a good sign. It’s continuing with our progression.”
Valentin Zykov also scored for the Wolves, and Garret Sparks stopped 21 shots.
NOTE: It was the Wolves’ last home game of the 2010s. They went 222-117-22-23 at Allstate Arena and won 20 playoff games in Rosemont.
Ty Rattie (42) led the Wolves in home goals, followed by Darren Haydar (40) and Brett Sterling (31). Matt Climie (36) led goalies in home wins, and Jordan Binnington (32) was second.