After the holiday break, the Rockford IceHogs were not able to overcome their Turkey hangover and only salvaged one point out of four over the weekend, dropping games to the Iowa Wild and Chicago Wolves.
Playing against two of the bottom teams in the AHL Central Division, the IceHogs could only muster an overtime loss against the Wild on Friday and a disappointing 4-3 loss against the Wolves on Saturday night. The IceHogs now sit in third place in the Central Division at 11-8-1 (23 pts, .575 pts%), trailing the Manitoba Moose and Iowa Wild.
Friday: Iowa Wild def. Rockford IceHogs, 2-1 (ot)
Friday night’s clash with the Wild was a rematch from their Wednesday matchup, a 3-1 win for the IceHogs. It was a different story on Friday, the Wild were able to get on the board first with a late first period goal from Pat Cannone. The Wild took the lead with just seconds remaining in the period and would hold that lead into the second frame.
In the second period, the IceHogs would knot it up with a goal from Luc Snuggerud, his second of the season. After being out-shot in the first period 16-9 by the Wild, Rockford would out-shoot Iowa 10-6 in the second frame to even up the action heading into the third period.
No scoring through the third period would mean an overtime period would be required to separate the teams. Just over one minute into the extra frame, Joel Eriksson Ek would score his first goal of the season and give the Wild the 2-1 win.
On a positive note, the IceHogs were able to kill off both Wild power-play opportunities. But on the flip-side, the IceHogs’ power-play drought continued as they went 0-2 with the man-advantage. Rockford still holds the season series lead between the teams with a 3-2-1 record against the Wild.
Saturday: Chicago Wolves def. Rockford IceHogs, 4-3
On Saturday night, the IceHogs and Wolves opened up the second game of the Illinois Lottery Cup rivalry between the teams. Rockford won the first meeting of the season on Nov. 19 in a 4-3 shootout win. It would again be a 4-3 final score, but the Wolves would be on the better side in game two.
The Wolves jumped out to the early 1-0 lead with a goal from Petteri Lindbohm, but the IceHogs would respond just two and a half minutes later with a goal from Tomas Jurco. Jurco’s fifth goal of the season would take the teams into the locker room tied 1-1.
It was more of the same from the Wolves to start the second period, eventually taking the lead back with a goal from Jason Garrison. But mid-way through the period, the IceHogs would tie it up with a power-play goal from Ville Pokka. The goal would mark the first power-play tally from the IceHogs in 30 opportunities on the man-advantage. Pokka’s second of the season would make it a 2-2 game going into the third period.
Just four minutes into the final frame, Rockford would take their first lead of the weekend, getting a wicked wrist-shot goal from Matheson Iacopelli, his fourth of the year, to make it a 3-2 lead for the IceHogs. It would not last very long, though. Under a minute later, the Wolves would tie it up with a great shot from Stefan Matteau and would take the lead for good a minute and a half after that with another snipe of a goal from Brett Sterling to make it 4-3. The IceHogs had a handful of chances down the stretch but couldn’t find the equalizer and the Wolves came away the 4-3 winners.
While the power-play goal from Pokka was a bright spot, Rockford left five other power-play opportunities go by and are just 2-48 on the power-play since Oct. 28. The IceHogs were able to kill off both Wolves power-play opportunities, getting the penalty-kill rate up to 24th in the AHL at 80.5%.
Post-game Media:
Head Coach Jeremy Colliton:
Ville Pokka:
Tomas Jurco:
What’s Next?
The IceHogs get back in action on Tuesday night as they host the Central Division leading Manitoba Moose to close out the month of November. It will be the first time the IceHogs and Moose have faced each other this season. Manitoba have won nine of their last ten games, including six in a row. The Moose also boast the AHL’s sixth best power-play at 20.2% and third best penalty-kill with an 87.1% kill-rate. Puck drop is set for 7pm CT at the BMO Harris Bank Center.