FORSBERG, HOGS SHUT DOWN STARS TO REGAIN FOURTH PLACE IN CENTRAL DIVISION

ROCKFORD, Ill. – Alexandre Fortin and Andreas Martinsen scored in the first period and Anton Forsberg stopped 34 of 35 pucks to help the Rockford IceHogs complete a three-games-in-three-days sweep with a 2-1 victory over the Texas Stars Sunday afternoon at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

The IceHogs have now won 10 of their last 12 home games and are 13-5-1-1 overall since Jan. 25. Sunday’s victory also pushed the Hogs past Texas for fourth place and a potential playoff berth in the Central Division.

Forsberg continued his stellar season with his 14th game with 30 or more saves. He allowed a lone goal to Denis Gurianov in the first period before slamming the door with 30 saves over the final two frames. The netminder now boasts a league-best .924 save percentage through his 27 appearances with Rockford on the year.

Fortin opened the scoring Sunday when Stars goaltender Philippe Desrosiers lost track of the puck with traffic in front of the net. Fortin skated on the doorstep and poked the puck under Desrosiers’ pads to put the IceHogs in front 1-0 at 13:52 into the first period.

After Gurianov evened the score at 16:22, Will Pelletier helped set up Martinsen by firing a shot that rebounded in front of Texas’ net. Martinsen was stopped on a first put-back attempt before again collecting the puck and going top-shelf to beat Desrosiers for what proved to be the game-winning tally at 18:00 in the opening frame.

Both netminders went unscored upon from there, with Desrosiers finishing with 23 saves in his 11th loss of the season.

Next Home Game: March 20 vs. Chicago | 7 p.m.
The IceHogs take on the Wolves in a Fas Fuel Winning Weekday. If the IceHogs win, fans can redeem their ticket stub for a ticket of equal or lesser value to the the Hogs’ next weekday home game. In addition, fans can bring their dogs to the game for just $2. Proceeds will benefit local animal shelters.