Gust Grabs Two Points for Hogs with Overtime Winner

Rockford, Ill. – Redeeming themselves after Friday night’s loss and splitting the weekend, the Rockford IceHogs topped the Colorado Eagles 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night at the BMO Center following forward David Gust’s game-winning goal.

The Hogs geared up to play their league-leading 23rd overtime period of the season after a scoreless, back-and-forth third period. With 49 seconds left in overtime, defenseman Jakub Galvas capitalized on an errant Colorado pass in the IceHogs’ zone, skating up the ice and angling a pass for Gust to shovel the disc past the blocker of Colorado netminder Justus Annunen to earn the Hogs’ 3-2 win.

The IceHogs looked like they were playing with a chip on their shoulder in the first half of the introductory period. The hard-hitting first frame featured Morgan Adams-Moisan dropping the gloves with Kale Kessy at 5:08 to open up the action. Halfway through the frame, Colorado forward Spencer Smallman snuck a shot between his legs and behind Rockford goaltender Arvid Soderblom on the Eagles’ man advantage at 11:07, taking a 1-0 lead.

Evening the score 1-1 before the first intermission, forward Zach Jordan tallied his first goal in a Rockford sweater after catching a pass from Rocco Grimaldi at center ice, skating up the slot, and firing a wrister from the left circle past Annenen at 12:19.

The highly-physical first period saw 11 combined penalties for a total of 28 minutes. After a skirmish before the first intermission, Rockford defenseman Alex Vlasic and Colorado defenseman Keaton Middleton saw matching minor penalties for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct.

Forward Luke Philp bagged his 21st goal of the season on the power play at 9:02 in the second stanza. Waiting in the crease, Philp tipped in a slap shot from Grimaldi to give the IceHogs a 2-1 lead for the first time in the contest.

Later in the second, Rockford was unable to clear the zone, and the Eagles netted their second power-play goal of the night after forward Gustav Rydahl went top shelf and sniped a shot past Soderblom at 12:16, tying the match 2-2.

Soderblom came up big for the Hogs, registering 33 saves on 35 Colorado shots including four overtime stops. Annunen denied 45 of 48 Rockford shots but was tagged with the loss.

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