Chicago Wolves throttle Rockford IceHogs to snap three-game skid

The Chicago Wolves made the third stop on their five-game road trip and skated to a convincing 8-4 victory over the IceHogs on Wednesday night in Rockford.

The Wolves snapped a three-game losing skid behind an offensive onslaught led by Skyler Brind’Amour’s two goals and two assists. Gleb Trikozov, Josiah Slavin and Gavin Bayreuther each added a goal and an assist while Evan Vierling, Blake Biondi and Ronan Seeley scored and Ivan Ryabkin chipped in with two assists. The win also ended Chicago’s five-game road losing streak.

The Wolves came out flying and raced to a 3-0 advantage within the first 10 minutes, 6 seconds of the game.

First, Trikozov took advantage of a Rockford giveaway in front of its own net to notch his second goal of the season. The forward pounced on the puck in the slot and flicked it past IceHogs netminder Drew Commesso’s glove to get the visitors off on the right foot. Ryabkin and David Gagnon recorded assists on the score.

Chicago extended the lead 1:41 later while killing a penalty. Bayreuther scooped the puck up, raced in alone on a breakaway and slid a backhanded shot by Commesso. The unassisted goal was Bayreuther’s fourth marker of the season and the Wolves’ third shorty of the campaign.

The Wolves kept coming and Slavin made it 3-0 just after the midway point of the period when the captain scooted around the net and knocked in a rebound of a Brind’Amour shot. Brind’Amour and Ryabkin earned assists. For Ryabkin, it marked the first multipoint game of his American Hockey League career.

Rockford cut the Wolves’ lead to 3-1 when Gavin Hayes found the back of the net just :28 into the second period.

Vierling’s team-leading eighth goal of the season reinstated the Wolves’ three-goal advantage. Skating on the power play, the forward redirected a Domenick Fensore shot by Commesso. Fensore and Bradly Nadeau had assists.

Midway through the second, Seeley netted the Wolves’ second power-play goal of the game. The defenseman took a cross-ice feed from Noel Gunler and ripped a shot from the left circle that beat Commesso to the stick side. Gunler and Brind’Amour were awarded assists.

After Rockford’s Samuel Savoie tallied short-handed, Brind’Amour extended the Wolves’ lead to 6-2 late in the second. The forward broke in alone on Commesso and buried his fourth goal of the season with an assist from Trikozov.

In the waning moments of the second, the IceHogs got a power-play goal from Kevin Korchinski to make it a 6-3 Wolves lead heading into the third.