TABLES TURNED ON HOGS IN LAKE ERIE

The IceHogs drop 5-1 tilt against Monsters

Cleveland, Ohio.-What a difference 24-hours made for the Rockford IceHogs. A night after a dominating 5-2 win over the Lake Erie Monsters, the Monsters gave it back to Rockford on Saturday, topping them 5-1 at the Quicken Loans Arena.

The start to Saturday's game was the opposite to that of Friday's contest as Lake Erie dominated the early stages of the frame. Lake Erie claimed the game's first goal when Karl Stollery beat Antti Raanta with a point shot at 3:17.

Lake Erie out shot Rockford 13-0 over the first five minutes of the game. Overall in the frame, Lake Erie out shot Rockford 20-4, a night after Rockford outshot the Monster 19-6 in the first period and led 3-0.

Even after Rockford finally got a couple of opportunities on Sami Aittokallio, the Monsters sustained their momentum and pushed their lead to 2-0. On a power play, Andrew Aggozino cleaned up a pretty pass from Bryan Lerg at 12:12 for his first goal of the season.

In the second period, Rockford's hole was dug deeper after J.T. Wyman snuck his first goal of the season under Raanta at 3:55, making it 3-0. Another crack on the power play made it 4-0 Monsters later in the stanza. Mark Olver tipped a Matt Hunwick shot past Raanta for his second marker of the season at 14:33.

Rockford made it a 4-1 game in the third period with a power play goal. Alex Broadhurst set up Brad Mills at 3:18 and the center buried his second goal of the season. Mills has points in all four of Rockford's games in 2013-14 so far.

Looking to reduce the gap to two goals with another power play opportunity, Rockford pulled Raanta at 13:19 of the third period, but Lake Erie won the faceoff and Lerg buried the short-handed empty net tally at 13:25.

Rockford was outshot 36-31 in the contest.

Next Home Game: Saturday, Oct. 19 vs. Grand Rapids. Game time is 7 p.m. Rockford opens the home portion of their regular season schedule against the Griffins. The first 5,000 fans to the game will receive an IceHogs calendar courtesy of Stateline Staffing Services. For tickets, call (815) 968-5222, online through IceHogs.com or in person at the BMO Harris Bank Center Box Office or at any Ticketmaster outlet.