The IceHogs would come off of a 3-in-3 where they lost the first two games but came back to win the third. So, the Hogs would try their luck in another 3-in-3 against Iowa, Milwaukee and Chicago.
Tyler Graovac would get the Wild off to a 1-0 lead on an Iowa power play in the first; Rockford did not score.
In the second period, though, Ryan Schnell took a pass from Alex Broadhurst, skated behind Iowa’s net to the right dot and sniped it past Johan Gustafsson to tie it at 1. Schnell would go toe-to-toe with Joel Rechlicz in the second and held his own against him. So Schnell would need an assist to be the second Hog this year with a Gordie Howe hat trick.
Iowa would go ahead on a Justin Falk score about 14 minutes in, but about 40 seconds later, Viktor Svedberg would release a bomb from a one-timer pass by Garret Ross to knot the score back at 2-all. Credit Drew LeBlanc for keeping the puck in play in Iowa’s zone to get the puck on net. However, 20 seconds or so later, Iowa goes right back into the lead from Kurtis Gabriel score.
So, the Hogs would need a goal to make it a new game in the third. Enter Ryan Hartman at 8:52. Hartman was on the receiving end of a juicy Gustafsson rebound from a Ryan Schnell shot and got it into the open net to tie it at 3 and regulation would end that way.
In overtime, it was Hartman to the rescue again to tap in a rebound, only this time it was from a T.J. Brennan wraparound try. So, the IceHogs would take another OT win, moving their overtime record to 3-0-1.
Saturday, it was division rival Milwaukee coming into town to face Rockford, and this time the Hogs got out the lead first as Kyle Cumiskey would score from the blue line past Marek Mazanec to make it 1-0 at 8:49 on a power play goal. Garret Ross provided the screen in front of Mazanec to help the puck get in.
In the second,
DONALD
Dennis Rasmussen tapped in a Zach Miscovic rebound to put the Hogs up 2-0. Ryan Schnell would get the secondary assist and be in line for another Gordie Howe hat trick as he fought Rockford’s love-to-hate-PITA Admiral Michael Liambas. This was after Liambas interfered with Scott Darling. Schnell would get a matching two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct… but as I said to the people sitting next to us – once they get out of the box, they’re going to go at it. Sure enough, they did. Schnell fired up the boys but if you watch this week’s media day, he has a shiner on his right eye to show for it. Milwaukee would come back with two scores to tie the game up from Garrett Noonan and Brendan Leipsic. Noonan would get into a fight and lose handily to Stephen Johns after Johns laid a hit on Frederick Gaudreau.
With about three minutes left in the period, T.J. Brennan was able to snipe a puck from the right dot on the power play and the Hogs would take the lead 3-2. After that, it took some nice saves from Darling but the third period was scoreless between the two teams and the Hogs would end an eight-game losing streak to Milwaukee with a 3-2 win.
On to Sunday and Chicago at the Allstate Arena, where Rockford would try to close out their second 3-in-3 with a sweep. This time, Mac Carruth would finally get his turn in net as Michael Leighton was still out from playing due to an upper-body injury.
Carruth was up to the task in the first as he was able to turn Chicago’s 10 shots away. In the second, Viktor Svedberg capitalized on a Phil McRae whiff on a shot and flipped it to the neutral zone to Brandon Mashinter who came barreling down on Matt Climie. However, instead of taking the shot, he made a nice drop pass to Garett Ross, who made the game 1-0. Then, in the 3rd, Ross had net front presence like he did last game; this time it was getting a rebound off of a Klas Dahlbeck shot from the left dot and put it into the net to make it 2-0.
A Brandon Mashinter EN goal at 19:02, and Mac Carruth would have your first winning IceHogs shutout win since Carter Hutton.
Remember that the Hogs did this without: Mark McNeill (injured), Joakim Nordstrom (called up to the Blackhawks), Phillip Danault (called up) and Adam Clendening (called up). You’ve had players like Mashinter, Ross, Brennan and Schnell all be able to pick up the slack. It’s been balanced and the return has been great.
Danault is back in Rockford as Andrew Shaw is better; Leighton is also back. McNeill is still out as of today but hope to see him back either Friday or Saturday.
That said, tonight and Friday are the Brovember jersey nights to help fight prostate cancer. The sweaters are pretty sweet; five of them will be silent auctioned off Friday; the rest will be raffled off like the Los Ice Hogs sweaters were the past two years.
Glad that they’re doing that instead of this:
THE HOT TAKE TO END ALL TAEKS:
Its BACK…We're looking for Milwaukee's Hairiest Back! Got a natural sweater? Join us WED to win great prizes! http://t.co/gI8IKXsYNA
— Milwaukee Admirals (@mkeadmirals) November 24, 2014