Wolves rally past Eagles in Game 6, force winner-take-all Game 7

Chicago came back from the brink in Loveland, erasing a two-goal first-period deficit and turning a night that threatened to end its season into a 3-2 win over the Colorado Eagles. Ronan Seeley broke the tie with 4:14 left in regulation, Joel Nyström had pulled the Wolves level less than three minutes earlier, and Amir Miftakhov made 36 saves in his first postseason start to keep Chicago alive.

The response mattered because the Wolves had arrived in Game 6 carrying the weight of a 7-3 collapse two nights earlier at Allstate Arena, where Colorado scored three times in 2:58 early in the second period and seized a 3-2 series lead. After that loss, Spiros Anastas said the Wolves had “lost our juice” when they reacted badly to bounces going against them, and the way Chicago played in Game 6 looked like a direct answer to that problem. Instead of chasing the game, the Wolves rebuilt it shift by shift.

That reset began with Miftakhov, who had not been in the postseason crease until Game 6 after Cayden Primeau had started 14 straight playoff games. Colorado grabbed a 2-0 lead in the opening period on goals by Jack Ahcan and Valtteri Puustinen, but Miftakhov settled the group after that and stopped all 23 shots he faced over the final two periods. Juuso Välimäki cut the deficit in half early in the second, and Chicago’s structure tightened from there as the Wolves kept the game within reach long enough for the late push to arrive.

The comeback also fit the shape of Chicago’s playoff run. The Wolves had already survived a difficult first-round series against Grand Rapids and then played every game against Colorado on a knife edge. Chicago opened the Western Conference Finals with a 3-2 win in Colorado on May 28, dropped Game 2 by a 5-2 score, fell 3-2 in Game 3 at home, and answered with a 2-1 win in Game 4 behind Primeau’s 33 saves before the Game 5 unraveling. Every Wolves win in the series came by one goal, which is exactly why Game 6 required such precision.

The victory sent the West Finals to a deciding Game 7 on Monday night in Colorado at 9:05 ET, with the Robert W. Clarke Trophy and a matchup with the Toronto Marlies in the 2026 Calder Cup Finals on the line. Chicago had been 5-1 all-time in Western Conference Finals series before this one, and the Wolves were trying to become only the 10th team in AHL history to win both Game 6 and Game 7 of a playoff series on the road. They did that too, winning 4-3 behind Ryan Suzuki’s go-ahead goal 3:46 into the third period and another 39-save effort from Miftakhov, a finish that delivered the franchise’s sixth conference title in 25 seasons.