IceHogs give up a franchise record six power-play goals
Houston, Tex.- To say that the Rockford IceHogs penalty kill struggled on Wednesday night would be an understatement. The IceHogs gave up a franchise record six power-play goals in an 8-1 loss to the Houston Aeros at the Toyota Center.
Rockford’s struggling penalty kill coughed up two first period goals on Wednesday night. The first came at 8:34 of the first period when Jon DiSalvatore swiped in his 16th goal of the season past Alec Richards on a Patrick O’Sullivan feed.
Then at 11:37 Robbie Earl hit Marco Scandella with a pass streaking down the left wing and the rookie d-man knocked home his second goal of the campaign. Houston extended their lead to 3-0 late in the opening frame as Colton Gillies notched his tenth goal at 19:28.
The second period didn’t get much better for the IceHogs. O’Sullivan would extend the Aeros lead to 4-0 at 1:37 for his 13th goal of the campaign. On yet another power play, DiSalvatore buried his second goal of the game at 6:34 off of a Casey Wellman feed pushing the Houston advantage to 5-0.
J.M. Daoust got into the scoring burst as he notched a power-play goal of his own at 13:07, wrapping his tenth goal of the year around Richards. Scandella then made it 7-0 when he blasted his second goal of the night over the shoulder of Richards at 14:53.
Brandon Bollig scored Rockford’s lone goal on the night when he wristed an unassisted short-handed marker past Matt Hackett at 12:04 for his fourth goal of the campaign.
In the third period Houston notched just one goal, but it came on the man advantage. Maxime Noreau powered through his tenth of the season past Hannu Toivonen at 16:26.
Houston peppered Rockford’s goaltending duo with 38 shots on goal while Rockford managed just 24 shots on Hackett in the loss. The defeat also ended Rockford’s three-game winning streak.
Jeff Taffe had his franchise record tying and league season-high point streak come to an end at 15 games.
Next Home Game: Sunday, March 13, vs. Chicago Wolves. Puck drop is at 4:05 p.m. It’s the IceHogs 12th Annual Jersey Auction game. The Hogs will be wearing special jerseys commemorating first responders. After the game, the jerseys will be auctioned off to fans. Also, the first 2,500 fans to the game will receive a Jersey Auction T-Shirt compliments of WXRX.