The Wolves are a month into their season, and coach Rocky Thompson likes the identity his team has developed.
‘‘We’re a physical team,’’ Thompson said before the Wolves’ 3-0 loss Saturday to the Moose at Allstate Arena. ‘‘I think we’re a team that plays very well without the puck. If you were to ask the opposition after playing us, they would say we don’t give up much. We make you earn things and, in the same breath, try our best to grind out opportunities in the offensive zone. I think that’s our identity.’’
That identity is an admirable one, but it didn’t lead to much against the Moose without center Gage Quinney.
Goals from Emile Poirier, Andrei Chibisov and JC Lipon were more than enough for the Moose, who scored twice in the last two minutes to seal the victory.
Quinney, perhaps the Wolves’ best all-around player, missed his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury but might return Sunday against the IceHogs.
‘‘He’s a huge part of the team,’’ Wolves forward Curtis McKenzie said. ‘‘He’s a true No. 1 centerman in this league and has been for a couple of years. He’s great on the power play, penalty kill and during play. You lose him, you lose about 20-plus minutes a night from one of the top centermen in the league.’’
With Quinney out, the Wolves were forced to rely even more on the identity Thompson mentioned. He liked when they did things such as getting the puck in deep and grinding their way to some chances. They also limited the Moose to 21 shots on goal, including only three in the second period.
Even when Quinney’s in the lineup, that’s how the Wolves will have to play. Without him, they had all 26 shots turned away by Moose goalie Mikhail Berdin in their first home game in two weeks.
‘‘I don’t know that we’re a super-offensive team even [when we’re] healthy,’’ Thompson said. ‘‘But hurt, no. We’ve got to play a heavy game. If you play in the offensive zone and you grind teams out, you’ll fatigue them, they’ll make mistakes and you’ll get scoring chances.
‘‘We’re not going to skill our way through a team from our own end out. We’ve got to grind them.’’
Taking advantage on special teams also would help. The Wolves went 0-for-4 on the power play, failing to improve on their 17.5 percent success rate with the man advantage.
McKenzie said the Wolves weren’t setting up pucks well on entries and were having difficulty getting into the offensive zone, which makes things tough.
He also agreed the power play is even more important when a player such as Quinney is missing.
‘‘Every game, you want to get it going,’’ McKenzie said. ‘‘You want to be out there, you want to score goals. Tonight just wasn’t the night for it.’’
NOTES: Rookie forward Lucas Elvenes retroactively was awarded an assist Thursday against the Wild, giving him a league-leading 15 entering play Saturday.
• Forward Keegan Kolesar didn’t play because of an upper-body injury, and coach Rocky Thompson said he might be out for a month.
