Slavin Tallies Twice in Return to Rockford, but Wild too Much for Hogs

Des Moines, IA- IceHogs forward Josiah Slavin tallied twice in his return from the Blackhawks, but it wasn’t enough as the Iowa Wild (21-21-3-3) went on to beat Rockford (21-19-3-1) 4-3 Friday night in Des Moines at Wells Fargo Arena.

Trying to snap a five-game losing streak, Iowa struck early when forward Joseph Cramarossa fired a shot from the left circle to score 3:07 into the opening frame.

Later in the period forward Marco Rossi snuck in a shot on the rebound at 14:36 to put Iowa up 2-0.

Iowa continued their pace in the middle frame. Just 59 seconds into the period, long-time NHL’er Victor Rask extended the Wild’s lead to 3-0 with his first AHL goal of the season after he cleared waivers earlier this week and was assigned to Iowa.

But Rockford then started chipping away. At 11:42 in the middle frame IceHogs forward Michal Teply went full force into the crease to push in a puck that was just sliding loose under the pad of Iowa goalie Zane McIntyre to make it a 3-1 game.

The Hogs continued to push in the third period. Forward Josiah Slavin, who returned to Rockford on Monday after time with the Blackhawks, fired a one-timer that beat McIntyre and put the IceHogs within a goal at 4:18 in the closing frame.

With just over two minutes left to play in the third period and the IceHogs down 3-2, Rockford netminder Arvid Soderblom started skating to the bench to create the 6-on-5 empty net situation. With Soderblom halfway to the bench, forward Kyle Rau took a shot down ice that found its way to the back o the net. With Soderblom still on the ice at the moment, he tried to skate back but just did not have enough time.

But the IceHogs weren’t done just yet. At 18:05 Slavin fired a wrist shot between the circles to go upstairs on McIntyre and once again put the IceHogs within one. But that’s where the momentum would end as Iowa held on for a 4-3 win.

The IceHogs return to BMO Harris Bank Center on Saturday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m. against the Texas Stars! The first 1,500 fans will bundle up with a collectible IceHogs fleece blanket presented by Dental Dimensions! The IceHogs and Stars rematch on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 4 p.m. on a Meijer Family Sunday! Buy Tickets

Watch and listen to the action on the IceHogs Broadcast Network presented by BMO Harris Bank! Tune in from your favorite device, at home or on the road at IceHogs.com and on the IceHogs app!

Fans can also watch every IceHogs home game and select road games this season on 23.3 Circle TV and every game on AHLTV and listen in on all of Mid-West Family’s local stations including 104.9 The X, B103, 95.3 The Bull, and Rockford Greatest Hits 100.5 and featured on Rock River Current.