After a fruitless start to the season last week, the Rockford IceHogs return to action this weekend as they open the home portion of their schedule against the Texas Stars and Hershey Bears. The IceHogs, still looking for their first win of the 2018-19 season, hope to have it come on Saturday against the team who eliminated them from the Calder Cup Playoffs last season, the Texas Stars.
Rockford IceHogs Host Stars, Bears In Home-Opening Weekend
Following back-to-back road losses to the Cleveland Monsters last week, where they were out-scored 9-3, the IceHogs look to right the ship and get in the win column with a pair of back-to-back home games this weekend.
Rockford will have plenty of opportunity to get in the ‘W’ column this weekend as they have a bit of revenge on their mind against the Stars and face what is sure to be a tired Bears squad when they roll into town on Sunday. The IceHogs came away from their opening weekend of the season without any points in the standings, dropping back-to-back contests against the Monsters and looking like a team that could have used a real warmup period during training camp, rather than just one inter-squad scrimmage prior to opening the regular season.
Rockford has no scoring leader as eight players are tied with a point a piece, with three different goal-scorers (Matthew Highmore, Lucas Carlsson, and Tyler Sikura). They’ll miss the speed of Alexandre Fortin in the lineup after his promotion to the Chicago Blackhawks earlier this week and figures to stay with the NHL club until after the weekend, at least.
#Blackhawks haven't run lines yet but Fortin is in red and Saad is in black. So looks like Fortin could get a shot in the top six.
— Tracey Myers (@Tramyers_NHL) October 12, 2018
In net, both Collin Delia and Kevin Lankinen were able to get a start over last weekend, but neither was spectacular in their performances. Lankinen stopped 18 of 21 shots faced against the Monsters on opening night while Delia stopped 26 of 31 shots faced against Cleveland the next night. Delia dealt with an early emergency trip to Ottawa last week and almost had another trip to make this week, but Anton Forsberg was able to avoid any injury issue after a slight hand issue in practice. Delia will figure to get the first start at the BMO Harris Bank Center this season on Saturday night.
While the IceHogs have only generated five powerplay opportunities so far this year, tied for the fourth-fewest in the league and the fewest of any team with more than one game played, they have converted on one of those powerplays. Their 1-for-5 start ranks them 13th in the AHL. On the other side, the Rockford penalty-kill is 15th in the league after two games, killing six of seven penalties through two games.
Texas Stars Report
Hosting the Texas Stars on Saturday night, the IceHogs will be up against a tough Stars team that took three of their first four points of the season with a win over the Grand Rapids Griffins and an overtime loss to the Milwaukee Admirals. Texas is paced in scoring by fifth-year pro Michael Mersch with three points to begin the year, followed by Justin Dowling, Colton Hargrove, and rookie Joel L’Esperance all with two points each. Third-year pro Landon Bow will be the probable starting goalie for Texas against Rockford, having won the Stars’ opening game against Grand Rapids with a 24-save performance.
The Stars are 0-for-6 on the powerplay this season, one of seven AHL teams without a powerplay goal yet this year. On the penalty-kill, Texas ranks 17th in the league with 10 kills on 12 short-handed opportunities (83.3 Kill-percentage).
Hershey Bears Report
After Saturday night’s contest, the IceHogs turnaround and host the Hershey Bears on Sunday afternoon. Much like Rockford, the Bears are still looking for their first win of the season after losing to the Syracuse Crunch and Bridgeport Sound Tigers on opening weekend. Hershey will be closing a three games in three days stretch of play against the IceHogs as they travel to take on the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday night and cross Lake Michigan to face the Milwaukee Admirals in Milwaukee on Saturday night.
The Bears are led in scoring by Mike Sgarbossa, Riley Barber, and Colby Williams all with two points each. Both roster goalies saw action last week for Hershey as rookie goaltender Ilya Samsnov made the opening night start against Syracuse and third-year pro Vitek Vanecek took the net against Bridgeport. With three games in three days for the Bears, either goaltender is in play and will be determined as the weekend progresses
Hershey joins the Stars as one of the seven AHL teams that has yet to score on the powerplay this season, going 0-for-8 in their first set of games. On the penalty-kill, Hershey ranks 28th in the league, allowing goals on 4-of-9 penalty-kills faced.
What’s Next?
The Rockford IceHogs are next in action on Saturday, October 13, when they host the Texas Stars for their home opener. Puck drop for Saturday’s game is set for 6:00 pm CT at the BMO Harris Bank Center. The IceHogs are looking for their first win of the season, hoping to get a bit of revenge against the Stars, who knocked Rockford out of the Calder Cup Playoffs in last season’s Western Conference Finals.
On Sunday afternoon, the IceHogs host the Hershey Bears for the first of two matchups against the Eastern Conference foes this season. Puck drop on Sunday is set for 4:00 PM CT at the BMO Harris Bank Center.