The Chicago Wolves headed to the Western Conference Finals after a 5-1 win over the Milwaukee Admirals at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Friday night.
Wolves won the series, three games to one.
Josh Leivo scored two power-play goals before adding an empty net late to lead Chicago to the conference final for the sixth time since joining the AHL (2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2019, 2022 ). The veteran forward finished with 10 points in the series and is tied for the league lead with 13 points (6-7-13) this postseason.
Max Lajoie opened the scoring 3:56 into the game as he came out of the penalty area and joined in a rush, took a pass from Vasili Ponomarev and scored on the first shot of the night for either team.
Leivo made it 2-0 at 11:02, and Josh Jacobs scored his first career playoff goal at 17:18 to give Wolves a three-goal cushion at intermission.
Leivo scored his fourth goal of the series just 61 seconds from the start of the second period to make it 4-0, and capped his third career AHL hat trick ― and first since March 8, 2014 ― by hitting the empty net with 2:07 to play. .
Alexander Lyons (6-1) made 17 saves to record the win in net as Chicago finished the night with a 31-18 shot advantage.
Cole Schneider scored Milwaukee’s only goal in Game 4. Devin Cooley (3-2) recorded 26 saves.
Central Division Finals (best-of-5)
C1-Chicago Wolves vs. C3-Milwaukee Admirals
Game 1 – Saturday, May 21 – CHICAGO 6, Milwaukee 2
Game 2 – Sunday, May 22 – CHICAGO 8, Milwaukee 2
Game 3 – Wednesday, May 25 – MILWAUKEE 4, Chicago 2
Game 4 – Friday, May 27 – Chicago 5, MILWAUKEE 1
