On Wednesday night, the Rockford IceHogs began a three-game road stretch of their January schedule taking on the Cleveland Monsters in Cleveland. The game marked the fourth of six road games in a row for the IceHogs, who went into the contest with a five-game point streak, were able to continue the streak with a 4-3 loss in the shootout.
Wednesday: Cleveland Monsters def. Rockford IceHogs, 4-3 (so)
After taking points in all three games during a West coast road trip, the IceHogs returned to the Midwest to face the Monsters, who were 2-4-1 in the month of January heading into Wednesday’s game. Collin Delia would get the start for the IceHogs, riding a three-game winning streak over his last three appearances for Rockford.
The IceHogs got on the board first with a goal from Graham Knott just over five minutes into the first period. For Knott, the goal snapped a 32-game goal drought between his first professional goal on October 22, and his second on Wednesday night. The IceHogs’ 1-0 lead would come to an end with just under two minutes to play in the first period as Zac Dalpe tied it up with his fourth goal of the year.
Dalpe would break the tie mid-way through the second period with Brady Austin extending the lead to 3-1 just three minutes after that. The IceHogs would be able to stop the bleeding with just under two minutes to play in the period as Anthony Louis notched his sixth goal of the year to make it a 3-2 game.
The IceHogs would knot the game up mid-way through the third period with a goal from Luke Johnson. His eighth of the season tied the game at 3-3 and would force the contest into overtime. With no goals coming in the extra frame, the game would require a shootout. Louis would score the only goal for the IceHogs, while Dalpe and Alex Broadhurst would score to give the Monsters the extra point in the shootout win. Delia would make 29 saves on 32 shots faced with his record moving to 4-4-1 and a 3.10 GAA and .880 save percentage.
Odd note in this game as the IceHogs, who hold the AHL’s worst powerplay at 11.9%, did not get a powerplay opportunity against the Monsters.
Post-Game Video: Jeremy Colliton
Friday: Rockford IceHogs at Cleveland Monsters
On Friday, the IceHogs and Monsters will run it back for their sixth meeting of the season. After Wednesday’s game, the IceHogs are 2-2-1 against the Monsters this season, looking to get another in the win column, or at the very least continue their current six-game point streak.
Coming into Friday’s game, the IceHogs sit in third place in the AHL Central Division at 21-15-5 on the season with 47 points and a .573 point-percentage. Over the last ten games, Rockford holds a less than stellar 3-4-3 record, but have points in their last six games. Cleveland still sits in last place in the Central Division at 12-19-6 with 30 points and a .405 point percentage this year.
Rockford hopes that the offense continues on the road as they have scored 14 goals over their last four road games and 25 goals over their last eight games in the month of January, averaging over three goals per game.
Saturday: Rockford IceHogs at Grand Rapids Griffins
After the second game against then Monsters in Cleveland, the IceHogs will travel to Michigan to face the Grand Rapids Griffins in another game against a team below them in the standings. Grand Rapids sits in sixth place in the AHL Central Division as of Thursday with a 19-18-5 record, 43 points and a .512 point percentage.
It will mark the eighth game between the teams with Rockford holding a 6-1-0 record over the Griffins. Grand Rapids will come into Saturday’s contest with a sizable advantage on special teams over the IceHogs, boasting the AHL’s fifth-best powerplay unit (20.3%) and the tenth-best penalty-kill (84.9%). Saturday’s game will also conclude Rockford’s longest road-trip of the season (six games).