ROCKFORD WINS REMATCH WITH PEORIA 3-2

Flaherty turns away 43 shots in win

Rockford, Ill.- It's nights like these that shows what Rockford IceHogs head coach Mike Haviland means when he talks about his two #1 goalies.

On the same night that Corey Crawford shuts out the defending Stanley Cup Champions at the United Center, Wade Flaherty breaks the season high mark in saves at the Rockford MetroCentre.

The Rockford IceHogs exacted a little bit of revenge on the Peoria Rivermen on Wednesday, coming back from a 4-3 loss on Sunday to beat Peoria 3-2.

Crawford, who was called up Feb. 22 to back up Patrick Lalime, earned a goose egg in his second start at the NHL level. Down on the farm, Flaherty was working some magic with 43 saves against Peoria, topping Crawford's 42 on Nov. 25 against Grand Rapids. He improves to 8-6-2-0 on the season with the win.

Martin St. Pierre started the scoring with a power-play goal at 2:24 in the first. Troy Brouwer and Petri Kontiola had the helpers.

The Embrun, Ontario native made it two in a row with a blast around Marek Schrwaz at 15:51. Brouwer and Ryan Stokes had the assists.

This was the first game since Jan. 25 that St. Pierre has scored a goal. It was his team-leading 18th multi-point game, including third multi-goal contest.

The scoring continued in the second frame when Jake Dowell put the puck past Schrwaz at 2:13 to make the score 3-0. Kontiola and Jim Fahey recorded the assists.

That goal sent Schwarz from the game with nine saves. He was replaced by Chris Beckford-Tseu, who finished with 12 saves in 35:24 on ice.

Nicholas Drazenovic broke Wade Flaherty's shut out at 9:26 in the third period with assists from Jean-Guy Trudel and Martin Kariya on a five-on-three power play.

Then with Beckford-Tseu on the bench in favor of an extra attacker, Charles Linglet tacked on another goal at 18:24 with helpers from Kariya and Roman Polak to make the score 3-2.


That's close as the Rivermen would get as Rockford held them off the board the rest of the way despite a 6-on-4 advantage for the final minute. The IceHogs finished its season-long homestand 3-3-0-0.

Next Home Game: Sunday, March 9 vs. Iowa Stars. Game time is set for 4:05 p.m. The IceHogs and Stars drop the puck for the second time in Rockford and fifth time overall. The first 1,000 fans to the game will pick up IceHogs Poster #5 from Pepsi, MedicineMan and Johnson Press.