HOGS DROP THIRD STRAIGHT IN TORONTO
St. Pierre notches 500th career AHL point in loss
Toronto, Ont.-The 2013 portion of the 2012-13 season hasn't exactly gotten off to the start that the Rockford IceHogs were hoping for. Rockford fell 5-2 to the Toronto Marlies at the Ricoh Coliseum on Saturday, their third straight loss.
Toronto staked out to a 1-0 lead with an early power-play goal on. Defenseman Paul Ranger slapped his fifth goal of the season through traffic and past Carter Hutton at 4:46 of the opening frame.
A failed defensive zone clear then cost Rockford another marker. Nicolas Deschamps forced a turnover in the Rockford zone and found Mike Zigomanis in front all alone where the center knocked in his own rebound at 9:27.
Rockford got the goal back at 10:31 with a power play strike. Marcus Kruger's shot snuck under Ben Scrivens and in for his eighth goal on the campaign. Martin St. Pierre assisted the goal, earning his 500th career AHL point, making him just the 83rd player in AHL history to reach 500 career points in the league.
In the second frame Kenny Ryan extended the Marlies lead to 3-1. The winger dashed through Rockford's defense and waited out Hutton before firing his fourth goal of the season over the Hogs goalie at 3:04.
For the second time in the game Rockford came right back to reduce the Toronto lead to one. Brandon Bollig fired his fifth goal of the season past Scrivens after a gritty effort by Kruger to dig a puck out along the wall at 4:18.
With a chance to tie the game on a power play later in the stanza, Rockford gave up a short-handed goal. Ryan Hamilton followed a Will Acton shot and tapped in his team his leading 16th goal of the season past Hutton at 15:48.
Joe Colborne finished off Rockford with an empty net tally ay 18:19 of the third as Rockford couldn't crack Scrivens the rest of the way.
Next Home Game: Wednesday, Jan. 9 vs. Grand Rapids Griffins. Game time is 7:05 p.m. The IceHogs return home to face the Griffins for the first time in 2012-13 at the BMO Harris Bank Center on a WXRX Dollar Day. The game is the fifth of eight on the campaign overall.