The Rockford IceHogs and Milwaukee Admirals found scoring chances hard to come by when the Central Division rivals met Friday night at the BMO Center. Like the previous Friday, when the IceHogs and Admirals met in Rockford, the game went into overtime. On Black Friday, however, there was a different victor than the week before.
The IceHogs turned the tables on Milwaukee, avenging last week’s overtime loss. David Gust provided the heroics for Rockford this time out. After setting up the Hogs only goal in regulation, he sent a rebound past Admirals goalie Yaroslav Askarov 3:55 into the bonus round for a 2-1 Rockford win. The IceHogs (9-5-1, 19 points), now sit in second place behind division-leading Texas after coming out on top of a defensive stand-off.
“I think we defended the middle of the ice real well,” Hogs coach Anders Sorensen explained to Rockford broadcaster Mike Folta following the game. “The stuff they had was some outside stuff and same side stuff. We didn’t let the puck go across into the slot.”
Two Stingy Teams
For the first two periods of action, neither team could get much going on the offensive end. Rockford struggled to bring the puck out of the defensive zone. At the same time, the Admirals couldn’t get a clear shot at the IceHogs net.
“I think the first ten minutes they kind of had us on our heels a little,” Gust admitted to Folta. We (had a) bend but not break mentality and then we slowly got our feet under us and kept going.”
Gust looked primed to get Rockford on the scoreboard seconds into the third period, hauling in a pass from Ethan Del Mastro at the right post. Gust was held by Milwaukee defenseman Roland McKeown, preventing him from getting off a shot. However, Gust maintained possession below the goal line and backhanded the puck to Colton Dach in front of the Admirals net. Dach was able to finish the scoring play, giving the IceHogs a 1-0 lead just 29 seconds into the final frame.
Milwaukee would rally, tying the game at the 11:45 mark. Keaton Thompson sent a long shot from the left point through heavy traffic in front of the Rockford net. IceHogs goalie Drew Commesso was unable to track the shot with bodies in front of him. The score remained 1-1 through regulation.
This time, Gust was unchecked after an odd-man rush up the ice. Dach sent a shot attempt off the pads of Askarov. The rebound bounced into the slot and the veteran forward’s aim was true on the put-back, ending the contest.
“I thought we kind of controlled overtime and then caught them in a bad change,” Gust said to Folta regarding the game-winner. “It was a good, quick up, just two-on-one, kind of, off the pads. I think the kind of quick up gave us the edge there on the two-on-one.”
Commesso found the workload increase as the game wore on. The rookie faced 17 shots in the last 24 minutes of action. For the evening, Commesso finished with 32 saves.
“I thought Drew (Commesso) was really good when we needed him to be good,” said Sorensen, “so that was really positive as well.”
Same Thing Saturday Night
The action moves to Milwaukee on Saturday to complete the home-and-home series between the IceHogs and Admirals. Sorensen and Gust know exactly what to expect from Milwaukee in the rematch.
“That’s the game they play there,” Gust explained. “You look up at the ice and they’ve got three or four bodies in front of you. You just had to chip pucks and work below the goal line on them.”
Sorensen did not hesitate when Folta asked him about the key to beating the Admirals, replying, “You’ve got to fight for that inside ice, right?”
The puck drop for Saturday’s tilt at UW-Milwaukee Arena is set for 6:00 p.m. CDT.
