The Rockford IceHogs scored four unanswered goals for their fifth straight comeback win in a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Wolves on Sunday at Allstate Arena in Rosemont.
Anton Wedin and Lucas Carlsson both scored at even strength and Matthew Highmore and Tyler Sikura added empty-net goals while shorthanded in the final two minutes. Matt Tomkins stopped 18 of 19 shots to help the IceHogs improve to 4-0 in the season series against the Wolves after Kevin Lankinen fell ill earlier in the day.
Dylan Coghlan ripped a one-timer from the top of the left faceoff circle on the power play goal to put the Wolves up 2-1 with 1:39 remaining in the opening period.
Wedin redirected a pass from Philip Holm in the slot to tie it 1-1 at 14:28 of the second period to end Garret Sparks’ shutout streak at 191 minutes, according to Greg Boysen of The Hockey Writers. Rockford winger Tim Soderlund recorded his first professional point on the goal with a secondary assist for an all Swedish scoring tally.
Moments later Coghlan looked poised to scored his second goal of the game. Curtis MacKenzie send a no-look, between-the-legs pass to Coghlan at the left dot, but Tomkins made a post-to-post diving save on the shot.
Carlsson scored the game-winning goal midway through the third when he entered the offensive zone and stick-handled his way around Brett Lernout then fired a wrister by Sparks.
The Wolves started to push the action down the stretch, and received a power play with 6:35 left when Reese Johnson rag-dolled Brayden Pachal to the ice for a hit on a teammate. Tomkins stopped all four shots on net during the penalty kill for Rockford to go 3-for-4 on the night.
Seven seconds after Wolves head coach Rocky Thompson called a timeout and pulled Sparks for an extra attacker, Highmore iced the game with his 30th AHL career goal with 1:53 remaining in the game. Sikura added another in the final minute for his sixth goal of the season to tie his younger brother, Dylan Sikura, for the team lead. Dylan Sikura had a game-high seven shots, including six in the second period, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Three stars
- Lucas Carlsson (RFD) — 1 goal (game winner), 5 shots
- Garret Sparks (CHI) — 34 saves on 36 shtos
- Anton Wedin (RFD) — 1 goal
What’s next?
The IceHogs have a home-and-home weekend series against the Grand Rapids Griffins (Red Wings), starting at 6 p.m. Friday at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids.