Hogs Hot in Desert, Sweep Roadrunners In Weekend Matchup

Tucson, AZ- Nine different players tallied a point for the Rockford IceHogs (30-24-4-1) in their 6-3 win over the Tucson Roadrunners (20-31-5-1) Saturday night at Tucson Arena.

The Roadrunners struck first for the second night in a row when forward Ben McCartney caught the IceHogs in between a line change and scored 4:14 into the first period.

But later in the period, in his 500^th AHL game, IceHogs captain Garrett Mitchell tied the game 1-1 for his sixth goal of the season at 8:19.

The Roadrunners regained the lead when forward Stephen Harper went five-hole on Rockford goaltender Arvid Soderblom and scored his second goal of the series to give Tucson a 2-1 lead at 10:48 in the opening frame.

The IceHogs, however, continued to battle right back. Forward Mike Hardman tied the game 2-2 when he found the back of the net on a redirection for a power play goal at 14:55 in the first period.

Rockford carried the momentum into the second period when forward Brett Connolly extended his point streak to nine games when he scored on a beautiful stretch pass from defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk to give the IceHogs a 3-2 lead at 4:30. Connolly finished the night with a goal and two assists while Kalynuk tallied two assists.

But once again Tucson fought back when defenseman Cameron Crotty took it down the right-wing side and scored on a long shot to tie the game 3-3 at 17:24 in the middle frame.

But just over a minute later, forward DJ Busdeker scored a short-handed goal to give the IceHogs a 4-3 lead at 18:31 in the second period.

In the third period, rookie forward Lukas Reichel extended the IceHogs lead 5-3 at 3:49 in the period when he scored his team-leading 21^st goal of the season. Reichel finished the night with a goal and an assist to now give him 49 points on the season.

Reichel is trailing forward Vince Hinostroza (2015-16 season, 51 points) by just two points for the all-time IceHogs rookie points mark and forward Matthew Highmore (2017-18 season, 24 goals) by three goals to tie the all-time rookie goal mark.

From there, forward Dylan McLaughlin went on to score the empty net goal at 18:19 to seal the 6-3 win for the IceHogs. With the empty netter, McLaughlin extended his point-streak to five games.

Rockford will travel to Las Vegas to take on the Henderson Silver Knights Monday, April 4 and Tuesday, April 5 at 9:00 p.m. Central Time. Tune into the action on the IceHogs Broadcast Network presented by BMO Harris Bank Center!

Watch and listen to the action on the IceHogs Broadcast Network presented by BMO Harris Bank! Tune in from your favorite device, at home or on the road at IceHogs.com and on the IceHogs app! Fans can also watch every IceHogs home game and select road games this season on 23.3 Circle TV and every game on AHLTV and listen in on all of Mid-West Family’s local stations including 104.9 The X, B103, 95.3 The Bull, and Rockford Greatest Hits 100.5 and featured on Rock River Current.