After gaining the game’s first lead late in the 2nd period Saturday night, the Minnesota Wilderness could not contain the Chippewa Steel in the 3rd and fell, 3-1.
The Steel applied tremendous pressure through most of the final frame, putting up 14 of the period’s first 20 shots on goal. It then scored two goals 1:54 apart to take the lead, and then sealed the win with an empty net tally with 1:46 left.
Peyton Platter notched two of Chippewa’s goals beginning with the tying marker with 8:05 left in regulation. Anton Astashevich then scored the eventual game winner with 6:11 remaining before Platter fired in the empty netter within the final two minutes.
Ren Morque’s first of the season was the Wilderness’ lone tally. The veteran from Grand Rapids, MN, made it 1-0 when he scored on a 5-on-3 power play. Alessandro Lurati and Oliver Stümpel assisted on the goal which came with 46 seconds left in the middle stanza.
The loss extends Minnesota winless streak to five games. For Chippewa, the victory gave it a sweep in the 2-game weekend series.
Ajay White earned the win in the Steel net making 39 saves, as the Wilderness outshot Chippewa 40-37.
Nick Erickson took the loss, stopping the Steel on 34 of 36 shots.
The Wilderness (22-16-4) finished 1-for-4 on the power play, while Chippewa (19-16-5) went 0-for-1.
Minnesota is now off for almost two weeks. Its next set of games will be Feb. 9-10 when it hosts the Kenai River Brown Bears for two games.