Hogs Pick up a Point in Shootout Loss to Moose

ROCKFORD, Ill. - Brandon Hagel knotted the game late in the third, but the Manitoba Moose skated away with a 4-3 shootout win against the Rockford IceHogs at BMO Harris Bank Center on Friday night.

With 2:12 remaining in regulation and the Rockford net empty, John Quenneville stepped in on the power play and fired a puck from the right circle. Hagel broke free from a defender in the slot and slapped home the rebound to tie the score at three apiece and push the game to overtime.

The IceHogs controlled much of the extra frame, but both goaltenders answered the call and forced a shootout. Ben Youds slipped a puck past the goal line to put the Hogs up a goal in the breakaway competition, but Kristian Vesalainen and J.C. Lipon each tallied to lift Manitoba over Rockford by a final score of 4-3.

Dylan Sikura originally opened scoring 13:23 into the first period when he circled inside the Moose blue line and wristed a shot along the ice that snuck into the cage. However, J.C. Lipon evened things up when he tallied with just 20 seconds left in the opening stanza.

John Quenneville buried the only goal of the second period when he jumped on a loose puck in the slot and beat Moose netminder, Eric Comrie, between the legs and put Rockford up 2-1.

Kristian Reichel and Lipon scored in the third, though, to put Manitoba on top 3-2 until Hagel knotted things up.

GAME NOTES:

With Hagel's power-play goal tonight, the IceHogs have now buried goals on the man-advantage in three straight games...The club previously scored power-play goals in four straight from Dec. 20 - Dec. 29.

Rockford netted three goals in a game tonight for just the fourth time in the last 18 contests...The Hogs are now 16-2-0-2 when scoring more than two goals.

Tonight was the first shootout at the BMO Harris Bank Center this season...Rockford now moves to 3-2 in shootouts in 2019-20.