Alex Lyon made 28 saves for his second shutout of the Calder Cup Playoffs, helping the Carolina Hurricanes affiliate win the best-of-7 series and become champions of the American Hockey League, the top developmental league of the NHL. The Calder Cup was awarded for the first time since 2019; the playoffs were canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of concerns surrounding COVID-19.
"I think winning is important," Chicago coach Ryan Warsofsky said. "I think winning breeds development, and I think development breeds winning."
Springfield is an affiliate of the St. Louis Blues.
Andrew Poturalski had a goal and an assist, and Jack Drury had two assists for Chicago, which won four straight to close out the series.
"Credit to these players, man, they're something special," Warsofsky told the Wolves website. "We wanted to get a group together to do something special. And it was never about winning a championship in November. That was not the message. It was, 'Let's have a really good day today and get better and win that day.' I think you have to play for each other and you have to want something bigger than yourself.
"Every guy in there bought into it. We preached it day in and day out and they probably can't stand me for it. But this is the moment we wanted right here."
Charlie Lindgren made 26 saves for Springfield.
Max Lajoie gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 18:39 of the first period on his own rebound from low in the left face-off circle.
The Wolves scored first in each of the five games of the Finals and in 16 of 18 games in these playoffs.
"I just tried to put it on net," Lajoie told the Chicago website. "I think it went off their [defenseman], but it's a good bounce for us."
Poturalski made it 2-0 on the power play at 16:01 of the second period with a deflection after Joey Keane shot from the right point.
David Gust extended the lead to 3-0 at 17:02 of the third period when he redirected Drury's centering pass in front.
"They're a very detailed hockey team," Springfield coach Drew Bannister said. "They didn't allow us to get any momentum going."
Josh Leivo scored into an empty net with 23 seconds left for the 4-0 final. It was his AHL-leading 15th goal of the playoffs.
Leivo was awarded the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs.
It is the second consecutive Calder Cup title for the Hurricanes organization. Charlotte, Carolina's affiliate at the time, won the championship in 2019. That five-game series win came against Chicago, then affiliated with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Hurricanes have since affiliated with Chicago, the AHL regular-season champion (50-16-5-5).
