KAAPOA�S 28 SAVES PACE SHUTOUT OF ICEHOGS

ROCKFORD, Ill. – Kaapo Kahkonen made 28 saves, Sam Anas scored at 17:17 into the first period and the Iowa Wild blanked the Rockford IceHogs 3-0 in front of a season-high crowd of 5,280 Wednesday morning at the BMO Harris Bank Center.

AHL rookie Kahkonen turned aside each of the 28 shots faced, including 11 during the third period, to pick up his first shutout in North American professional hockey. The netminder has now made two of his first three AHL starts against the IceHogs and combined to turn aside 57 of 58 pucks over those two victories.

Kahkonen was bolstered by Iowa’s defense and penalty-kill unit, which successfully killed off each of Rockford’s five power-play opportunities as part of the shutout. Conversely, Anas converted on Iowa’s second power-play opportunity of the game for what proved to be the game-winning tally.

Anas buried a cross-crease feed from Cal O'Reilly to beat Collin Delia glove-side for the opening marker of the game. The tally was Anas’ first goal of the season, and bolstered O’Reilly’s scoring total to a team-high four points (1g, 3a) in three games against Rockford this year.

Matt Read potted an insurance goal for the Wild in the second period and O’Reilly netted an empty-netter to ice Iowa’s win.

The shutout was just Rockford’s second loss in regulation over its last 11 contests.

Next Home Game: Friday, Nov. 23 vs. Chicago Wolves | 7 p.m.
The IceHogs will host the Chicago Wolves for the team’s first-ever Hockey Fights Cancer night. The first 1,500 fans through the door will receive a FREE IceHogs LED fan, courtesy of SwedishAmerican. Proceeds from the postgame auction will benefit SwedishAmerican Foundation.