Chicago Wolves fall to Rockford IceHogs to start weekend set

The Chicago Wolves opened a set of three games in three days with a 6-3 defeat to the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night at BMO Center.

Skyler Brind'Amour scored his sixth of the season but Rockford's three-goal first period proved to be the difference in Chicago's second consecutive loss.

Marcel Marcel opened the scoring for Rockford 2 minutes, 28 seconds into the first period but Brind'Amour returned the favor for the Wolves 52 seconds later.

Brind'Amour surged into the IceHogs' zone and threaded a pass to Josiah Slavin who ripped a wrist shot from the right circle that redirected off Brind'Amour's stick at the net and over the shoulder of IceHogs netminder Mitchell Weeks. Slavin and Scott Morrow added assists on Brind'Amour's tally.

Just 1:07 later, Rockford regained the lead off a breakaway goal from Andreas Athanasiou.

The IceHogs added a third goal from Zach Sanford to cap off a flurry of an opening period. Jackson Cates added to Rockford's advantage late in the second period to push the lead to 3.

Joey Anderson's power-play marker in the third increased Rockford's advantage 5-1.

Chicago didn't go away as Bradly Nadeau's power-play goal gave the Wolves some much-needed momentum. Ryan Suzuki won the faceoff back to Ty Smith who gave Nadeau a pass in his wheelhouse from the left circle and one-timed his team-leading 18th goal of the season.

Just 33 seconds later Suzuki won another offensive-zone faceoff and Morrow picked up the puck from the right point, deked his way past two defenders and beat Weeks to the glove side for his 11th of the season.

Suzuki's two-assist night pushed his team-leading total to 29.

The comeback bid fell short as Marcel capped the night with an empty-netter for his second goal and fourth point of the game.

Chicago fell to 24-18-2-0 on the season while Rockford moved to 18-22-5-1.