Eight IceHogs Pick Up Points, Tomkins Stops 30 to Continue Rockford’s Dominance of Wolves

ROCKFORD, IL. – Alexander Fortin and John Quenneville each notched multi-point games and Matt Tomkins kicked away 30 of 32 shots on Hockey Fights Cancer Night to lead the Rockford IceHogs to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Wolves on Friday evening at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

With the triumph, Rockford has now won a franchise-record five straight games against its cross-state rival.

The IceHogs opened scoring 15:25 into the first period when Quenneville cut to the middle of the ice and floated a wrister against the grain that pinged off the right post and into the cage.

Fortin then netted the first of five total goals in the second frame when Dennis Gilbert cruised down the right wing and bounced a shot off the right pad of Wolves goaltender, Oscar Dansk, to set up Fortin, who slapped the rebound home to give the Hogs a 2-0 advantage.

Just over two minutes later, Philipp Kurashev thread a pass to Dylan Sikura, who slid a backhander between Dansk’s legs to increase the Hogs’ lead to three. The goal is Dylan’s eighth of the campaign and ties his brother, Tyler, for tops on the roster.

Ben Jones ended Tomkins’ shutout bid halfway through the period, but Brandon Hagel responded after he picked up a loose puck at Rockford’s blue line, entered the zone on a breakaway and tucked a shot under Dansk’s glove to restore the three-goal lead.

Finally, Chicago’s Brandon Pirri narrowed the gap to two on a power play late in the middle stanza, but Tomkins shut the door with several sprawling stops in the third to move to 4-1-0-0 on the season and secure two points for the Hogs.