The IceHogs threw every but the kitchen sink at Wolves’ goalie Matt Climie in the 1st period, firing off 21 shots. Unfortunately, they only had one goal to show for their efforts in the opening frame. The IceHogs fell behind early, which seems to be the ongoing theme of the 2012-13 season. Former Blackhawk Andrew Ebbett turned a Zack Kassian behind the back pass into a power play goal at 3:22 to open the scoring. The Hogs did not take long to respond. Just over two minutes later Rob Flick tipped in the rebound off a Martin St Pierre shot for his 3rd goal of the year.
Andrew Shaw, who missed a penalty shot early in the 1st period, gave the Hogs their first lead of the game with a power play goal at 4:39 of the 2nd period. Shaw redirected a Nick Leddy shot from the point past Climie for his 8th tally of the year. Brett Lebda was credited with the secondary assist.
The game seemed to shift for the worst when Brandon Bollig got handed 14 minutes in penalties for, well being Brandon Bollig. I really hope we don’t have to see much of this meathead in Chicago when the NHL returns. Brett Sterling scored his 3rd goal against the IceHogs this year 59 seconds into the 4 minute double minor. Sterling picked up a feed from Kassian and got the puck past Carter Hutton’s blocker to tie the game back up at 2-2 at 15:54 of the middle frame.
The IceHogs were able to regain the lead shortly after killing off the second half of the Bollig double minor. Martin St. Pierre raced to a rebound from a Dylan Olsen shot and put it in the net, for his team leading 13th goal of the season, with just 2 minutes remaining in the period. Leddy picked up his 2nd assist of game on the play as well. Hutton stopped all 6 shots he saw in the 3rd period to hold on for his 12th win of the season. He made 23 saves overall on the night.
The win puts the Hogs in tie for first place in the Midwest Division with Grand Rapids, who they will play on Monday. It also jumps them up to 8th in the Western Conference, but they are just 2 points out of 4th place in a very tight race. Rockford is now 6-9-1-1 against the rest of the division. The IceHogs return to action tomorrow night as the host, wait for it….the Milwauke Admirals! Weird!!