Photo: Ross Dettman
Artyom Levshunov scored on a power play 11:00 into overtime to give Rockford a 2-1 win over Chicago in Game 1 of their Central Division first-round series at Allstate Arena on Wednesday evening.
The IceHogs return home with a chance to close out the best-of-three series on Friday.
With 12 seconds remaining on a delay of game minor assessed to the Wolves’ Scott Morrow, Levshunov’s wrister from above the right circle got through the Chicago defense and beat Spencer Martin for the decisive goal.
The teams traded goals in the second period, with Juha Jääskä breaking a scoreless tie for the Wolves at the 6:53 mark of the middle frame and Kevin Korchinski answering for Rockford with 2:38 to go before intermission.
Drew Commesso, who was 1-3-2 (3.33, .888) in six starts against Chicago in the regular season, stopped 32 of 33 shots to earn the win. Martin finished with 34 saves for the Wolves.
(Rockford leads series, 1-0)
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 23 – Rockford 2, CHICAGO 1 (OT)
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 25 – Chicago at Rockford, 8:00
*Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 27 – Chicago at Rockford, 5:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
