Barons crush IceHogs 7-0
Oklahoma City, Okla.- What goes up must come down. It’s just that some things fall harder than others and the Rockford IceHogs found that out on Friday night as their five-game winning streak came to a crashing end. Rockford was blown out 7-0 by the Oklahoma City Barons at the Cox Convention Center.
Alexander Giroux pulled Oklahoma City out front 12:05 into the first frame. Brandon Pirri’s shot in transition for Rockford sailed back to the neutral zone where Giroux picked up the loose puck and tucked his 31st goal of the season around Hannu Toivonen.
Then Colin McDonald would continue his dominance in 2010-11 against the IceHogs. The Barons winger sniped his 35th goal of the campaign at 15:36 to make it 2-0 Barons. McDonald would strike again at 19:19 when he picked another corner over Toivonen’s shoulder for his ninth goal of the season against Rockford.
The second period didn’t get much better for Rockford as the Barons tacked on two more early to make it 5-0. Tanner House shoved in his first-career goal past Alec Richards off of a centering feed from Milan Kytnar at 6:27 of the frame.
The next shift for that combination resulted in another goal. This time it was House setting up Kytnar. In another transition rush, House found his wingman going hard to the net and Kytnar redirected House’s pass over the shoulder of Richards at 7:42.
Alex Plante got into the lamp lighting act when he blasted his second goal of the season past Richards at 12:30 of the middle period to make it 6-0 Barons.
Ben Ondrus kept the Barons offense rolling in the third period. The Oklahoma City team captain knocked in his seventh goal of the campaign 1:39 into the final frame, set up by Phillipe Cornet.
The loss matched the worst in Rockford’s AHL era, matching the 8-1 thumping handed out by the Houston Aeros on March 2.
Next Home Game: Friday, April 8 vs. Lake Erie Monsters: The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. Rockford returns home after a five-game, 12-day road swing to take on the Lake Erie Monsters for the sixth and final time this season. The IceHogs will be celebrating Hammy’s birthday with several area mascots as the team opens the final weekend of the 2010-11 season.