Last-Second Tally Sends Wild Past Hogs

Des Moines, IA – The Rockford IceHogs and Iowa Wild were deadlocked at two goals a piece heading into the final minute of Friday’s contest at Wells Fargo Arena, but J.T. Brown’s redirection with 15 seconds remaining propelled the Wild to a 3-2 victory.

Wild forward, Nico Sturm, fired a shot from the top of the right circle that hit Brown in the elbow and deflected overtop of IceHogs goaltender, Kevin Lankinen. The powerplay tally capped off a three-goal third period for the Wild after both Gabriel Dumont and Gerald Mayhew finding twine.

IceHogs alternate captain, Matthew Highmore, originally opened the scoring 3:28 into the middle frame when MacKenzie Entwistle’s shorthanded shot landed on the goal line and Highmore tapped the puck past Kaapo Kahkonen. Defenseman Chad Krys also picked up an assist on the goal.

After a defensive battle through the first two periods, the third stanza featured three goals in the first 2:30. Dumont knotted the game at 1-1 just 24 seconds after puck drop before Dylan Sikura gave the IceHogs a 2-1 lead on a one-time setup from Philipp Kurashev. Mayhew quickly responded with the equalizer that held until Brown’s game-winner.

Lankinen stopped 30 of 33 shots in the losing effort while Wild goaltender Kahkonen denied 24 of 26.

NEXT HOME GAME: Saturday, Oct. 12 vs. Grand Rapids Griffins | 6 p.m.
The Rockford IceHogs will host their home opener for the 2019-20 season on Saturday, Oct. 12 against the Grand Rapids Griffins at 6 p.m. at the BMO Harris Bank Center. The first 4,000 fans in attendance to Rockford’s first home game of the campaign will receive a free IceHogs calendar, courtesy of Impact Networking. Call the IceHogs front office at (815) 968-5222 or visit icehogs.com to purchase tickets.