HOGS SLUMP CONTINUES, BLANKED IN MILWAUKEE

Ellison and O’Reilly do the damage in Admirals win

Milwaukee, Wis.- Well maybe this is the low point. The Rockford IceHogs stretched its string of games without a win to eight straight (0-6-1-1) on Sunday, falling to the Milwaukee Admirals 4-0 at the Bradley Center. Milwaukee goalie Pekka Rinne tossed the shutout, turning away 23 Rockford shots to earn his AHL best 25 win of the season.

The IceHogs and Admirals went scoreless after the first 20 minutes. Rockford outshot the Admirals 10-6 in the opening stanza, but Corey Crawford and Rinne were both stout between the pipes.

In the second period Milwaukee grabbed the game’s first goal. Winger Matt Ellison had a Mark Matheson shot deflect off his leg and past Crawford at 9:48. The marker was the 15th of the season for Ellison.

Later in the frame, while skating four-on-four, the Admirals used an offensive fore-check to move the lead to 2-0. Alexander Sulzer set-up Cal O’Reilly on a give-and-go and O’Reilly finished it by shelving his 12 goal of the season at 16:21.

The period ended with Kris Versteeg getting tagged with 27 minutes of penalty time. Versteeg received an instigating minor, fighting major, 10-minute misconduct and game misconduct after an altercation with O’Reilly.

O’Reilly would add his second goal of the night in the third period while the Admirals were on the power play. Mike Vigilante set it up at 9:18 making the score 3-0. Ellison later chipped in his second lamp lighter of the night at 11:55 on an O’Reilly feed making it 4-0.

The game was the first of four straight slated against Milwaukee for Rockford. The Hogs and Ads will meet next on Friday in Milwaukee.

Next Home Game: Sunday, Feb. 24 vs. Milwaukee Admirals. Game time is 4:05 p.m. The IceHogs match-up with the Admirals for a third straight time on Sunday The first 1,000 fans to the game will pick up IceHogs poster #3 courtesy of Pepsi, Medicine Man and Johnson Press.