The Rockford IceHogs continued their steaky ways this past weekend, breaking a three-game skid with two wins in Grand Rapids. As the regular season begins to wane, Rockford is maintaining a hold on a play-in spot for the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The IceHogs (27-27-6-1) have amassed 61 standings points and are comfortably in fifth place in the Central Division standings. All things point to a play-in series with fourth-place Chicago, who have 63 points with two games in hand on Rockford.
After dropping three straight games to end February, Rockford won four straight to begin March. The IceHogs then lost three straight before posting their four-point weekend.
Success In Grand Rapids
Rockford evened the season series with the Griffins by way of the weekend sweep, which got underway on Friday night. The IceHogs got goals from Gerry Mayhew, Jackson Cates, Andreas Athanasiou, and Zach Sanford. Rockford coasted to a 4-1 victory at Van Andel Arena.
While the veterans handled the scoring load Friday, it was the kids who provided the offense in Saturday’s 2-1 win. Rookie forward Paul Ludwinski broke a scoreless tie 2:15 into the second period. Ludwinski pounced on a rebound of Jalen Luypen’s initial shot and sent the puck past Grand Rapids goalie Jan Bednar.
Minutes later, fellow rookie Samuel Savoie came up big on the penalty kill unit, going coast to coast with the biscuit and backhanding what turned out to be the game-winning goal past Bednar at the 5:27 mark.
Rockford faces the Griffins four more times this season, starting with a home-and-home on April 4 and 5.
Commesso Dominant In March
Anchoring the IceHogs in net on both nights was Drew Commesso, who stopped 50 shots in the two contests. The second-year pro has been excellent since returning from an ankle injury that kept him out of action for three weeks.
In eight games since returning to the crease for Rockford, Commesso is 6-1-1 with a 1.37 goals against average and a .954 save percentage. He also has two shutouts in that span.
After running hot and cold for most of the first five months of the season, Commesso seems to be at his best at a very opportune time for the IceHogs. For the season, he’s brought his GAA down to 2.51 and has a .912 save percentage in 32 games.
IceHogs Stat Sheet
- Cole Guttman, who leads the IceHogs with 53 points (21 G, 32 A) has struggled to put the puck in the net. He has just one goal in his last eighteen games, although he does have nine helpers in that span.
- In his past 14 games, Sanford has eight goals and eight assists.
- Savoie’s game-winning shorty on Saturday broke a 12-game scoring drought, while Cates snapped a 13-game goal-less streak with his lamp-lighter on Friday.
- Before a goal March 19 in a loss to Manitoba, Luypen had been without a point in his last 20 games. His assist on Ludwinski’s goal Saturday was his first helper since January 28 in Iowa.
IceHogs Roster News
Returning to action this week was D Cavan Fitzgerald (6 G, 8 A), who was cleared from the AHL’s concussion protocol on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, the team announced that Rockford captain Brett Seney was diagnosed with an MCL sprain suffered March 16 in Milwaukee. Seney (9 G, 27 A) is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks.
On Thursday, the IceHogs assigned F Kevin Lombardi and D J. King to the Indy Fuel of the ECHL.
Coming Up For The IceHogs
Rockford concludes the month of March at the BMO Center with three games this week. On Tuesday, the IceHogs host the Chicago Wolves in the last game of their season series. Rockford is 3-6-1 against their I-90 rivals; Chicago is likely to be the IceHogs opponent in a Calder Cup play-in series next month.
Friday and Saturday, Rockford hosts Central Division cellar-dwellers Manitoba. The Moose have won three of the first six games of the season series, including a 3-2 overtime decision on March 19.
The action at the BMO in all three games this week is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. CDT.
