Nicolas Beaudin scored his first professional goal in the Rockford IceHogs’ 5-2 loss to the Belleville Senators, who rallied with three third-period goals Friday at CAA Arena in Belleville, Ontario.
Jordan Szwarz had two goals, and Rudolfs Balcers, Drake Batherson, and Erik Brannstrom all had two assists for Belleville (15-9-1-0), which has won two straight and seven of its last eight. Jean-Christophe Beaudin scored a shorthanded goal and an assist, and Filip Gustavsson made 24 saves for his fourth win in his past five starts.
John Quenneville also scored for the IceHogs (14-10-0-1), who are without four of their top players since they’ve been called up to the Blackhawks (forwards Matthew Highmore and Dylan Sikura and defensemen Adam Boqvist and Dennis Gilbert). Ben Youds had an assist to give him three assists in two games since signing a professional tryout with the IceHogs on Monday. Matt Tomkins made 26 saves on 30 shots in his first loss after winning three three straight.
Belleville’s Beaudin put the Senators up 1-0 at 13:54 of the first period with a shorthanded goal. He raced around Brandon Hagel then lifted a backhand shot over Tomkins’ right shoulder.
Szwarz tapped it in a rebound from Brannstrom’s shot 28 seconds into the second period for a 2-0 lead.
Rockford’s Beaudin ripped a wrist shot from the right face-off circle to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 15:40.
#Blackhawks defenseman prospect Nicolas Beaudin scores his first professional goal for the Rockford #IceHogs in the #AHL. pic.twitter.com/4UMYTaWJ9P
— Brandon (@brandonmcain) December 14, 2019
Quenneville tied it 2-2 with his first goal in six games 28 seconds into the third period. Joseph Cramarossa stole the puck from Frank Corrado below the goal line then Tyler Sikura sent a backhand pass to the left circle for Quenneville, who snapped it into the net.
Norris scored his 11th goal of the season to give Belleville a 3-2 lead at 4:35. Jean-Christophe sent a pass to the slot as Ian McCoshen closed in on him for Norris, who snapped it into the top left corner. Szwarz added his second of the game to make it 4-2 at 17:49, and Alex Formenton scored his 12th goal of the season with an empty-net goal with seven seconds remaining.
Rockford and Belleville combined to go 0-for-13 on the power play, with the IceHogs going 0-for-7 on the man advantage.
What’s next
The IceHogs continue their three-game Canadian road trip at 3 p.m. Sunday against the Toronto Marlies.