Rockford drops to 0-2-0-1 on home ice against Charlotte
Rockford, Ill.- Charlotte has been a tough team for the Rockford IceHogs to contend with on home ice this season. On Tuesday, a shutout performance from Checkers' goaltender Justin Peters kept the Hogs off the scoresheet as Charlotte took a 3-0 victory at the BMO Harris Bank Center.
Brody Sutter got the scoring started for the Checkers at the 5:46 mark of the opening frame. Bobby Sanguinetti dropped a pass back to an open Sutter in the slot and the centerman put a slapper past Carter Hutton for his first career professional goal, giving the Checkers a 1-0 lead.
Charlotte then garnered a two-goal lead early in the second period. Mathieu Roy fired a shot from the right faceoff circle that Hutton partially blocked, but the puck went off the tip of his glove and bounced behind the netminder’s shoulder at 3:32 of the middle frame.
Rasums Rissanen sealed the game for Charlotte with a tally late in the third period. Evgenii Dadonov and Justin Krueger set up the defenseman, who sent a slapshot from the left point past Hutton to increase the Checkers lead to 3-0 and put away the IceHogs.
Peters turned away all 22 shots he faced to earn the shutout while Hutton made 21 saves in the loss.
Rockford was not able to convert on five power play chances on the night. Charlotte went 0-for-3 on their man advantage opportunities.
Next Home Game: Friday, April 13 vs. Milwaukee Admirals. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. Midwest Division rivals Rockford and Milwaukee faceoff for the 12th and final time this season and for the sixth matchup at the BMO Harris Bank Center. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive an IceHogs team photo courtesy of the Rockford Register Star.
For every goal that the Rockford IceHogs score in 2011-12, IceHogs head coach Ted Dent will make a donation to children’s cancer research. BMO Harris Bank will also make a donation for every goal to the “BMO Harris Bank Goals For Grades”