Chicago Wolves' win streak snapped by IceHogs
ROCKFORD - Tyler Motte and Brandon Mashinter each netted a pair of goals to pace the Rockford IceHogs to a 6-3 win over the Chicago Wolves in Illinois Lottery Cup action on Sunday. The loss ended the Wolves' winning streak at eight games.
Chicago (21-12-3-2) and Rockford (12-19-2-3) split six goals in the opening frame - including two from Wolves rookie Samuel Blais. After a scoreless second period, the IceHogs nabbed two goals in the opening 1:04 of the third session and potted an empty-netter at 17:32 to clinch the victory.
At 5:53 of the first period the Wolves struck first when Blais snagged a Rockford turnover in the slot and roofed a backhand past goaltender Mac Carruth (5-7-3) for the 1-0 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Motte shot the puck into a nearly empty net to knot the game at one.
Chicago retook the lead when Blais slid along the right offensive wall, cut to the slot and slipped a forehand chance into the net at 11:37.
Rockford again tied the game, this time with the man advantage, at the 14:10 mark when Mark McNeill tucked the puck behind Wolves goaltender Ville Husso (5-2-0).
McNeill took two consecutive penalties and the Wolves power play cashed in on the latter chance as Ivan Barbashev stretched his goal streak to six games. Kenny Agostino - extending his point streak to 11 games - put the puck on net and Barbashev chipped the rebound into the cage for the 3-2 lead.
In the final 20 seconds, the IceHogs again tallied an equalizer to close the period in a 3-3 tie. This time, Mashinter got in on the scoring with help from Sam Carrick and Kyle Baun.
After a scoreless second period, Rockford jumped out to a 5-3 lead, netting a pair of tallies just 18 seconds apart. The IceHogs sealed the 6-3 victory with an empty-netter from Tyler Barnes with 2:28 to go.
Husso stopped 30 of 35 shots in the loss while Carruth made 25 saves.