Wolves come up short

Tribune news services

11:58 PM EDT, May 7, 2008

Troy Brouwer scored twice and the Rockford IceHogs held off a late rally to beat the Wolves 3-2 and even their best-of-seven Calder Cup playoff series at 2-2.

Game 5 will be Friday night at Allstate Arena.

Rockford jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Martin St. Pierre scored on the power play on a rebound from a Derek Nesbitt shot at 16 minutes 27 seconds of the first period.

Brouwer scored the first of his two 2:36 into the second, stuffing a shot through the pads of Wolves goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. Brouwer's second—and third of the playoffs—came in the final minute of the second. The Wolves scored twice in the third on goals from Brian Fahey and Jesse Schultz.

"We had a couple bad bounces go against us, but I give them credit, they pressured us," said Wolves Head Coach John Anderson. "I know we can play better."

Rockford goaltender Corey Crawford, potentially the Blackhawks future goalie, stopped 32 shots to improve to 5-3 in the postseason.