Vlasic Sends Hogs Past Stars with Overtime Winner

Rockford, Ill. – The Rockford IceHogs knocked off the Texas Stars in a 3-2 overtime final on Friday night at the BMO Center. Defenseman Alex Vlasic scored the overtime winner for Rockford to give the Hogs their third straight overtime victory over the Stars this season. With the win, Rockford advanced to 5-2-0-0 against division-leading Texas in the 2022-23 circuit.

After a scoreless third period and tied 2-2, the IceHogs headed into their eighth overtime period in 10 games. Just 45 seconds into the overtime period, Vlasic stole the puck in the IceHogs’ defensive zone. Sending a cross-ice pass to forward Lukas Reichel on the center line, Vlasic moved into the low slot and tapped Reichel’s centering pass into the open net to score his second goal of the season and earn the 3-2 overtime win.

Rockford controlled the puck and didn’t allow Texas to take a shot on goal for the first five minutes of the contest, but the Stars ultimately struck the first tally of the night. Former IceHogs forward Tanner Kero fired a wrist shot from the edge of the right circle and then knocked his own rebound past Rockford goalie Dylan Wells at 12:24, taking a 1-0 lead.

Nearing the end of the introductory period, forward David Gust directed a cross ice pass to defenseman Alec Regula at the right circle. Regula’s wrister bounced off the crossbar, and forward Luke Philp was waiting on the edge of the crease to chip the puck behind Texas netminder Matt Murray and even the score 1-1 at 16:36.

The Hogs took their first lead of the night to start the middle period when Gust scored his 22nd goal of the season at 1:36. Forward Dylan Sikura stole the puck at neutral ice and sent a short pass to Gust in the right circle. Netting his first goal since Jan. 27, Gust sniped a quick wrister past Murray for his 22nd red light of the season, and Rockford took a 2-1 lead.

The back-and-forth play continued as Texas netted the equalizer halfway through the second frame. As defenseman Thomas Harley launched a one-timer from the high slot on the Stars’ third power-play opportunity, forward Marian Studenic deflected the blast from the low slot over the glove of Wells at 10:56 and tied the match 2-2.

In his first start since Jan. 21, Wells marked an impressive night, turning away 37 of 39 Texas shots to earn the win. Murray registered 25 saves on 28 Rockford shots but was tagged with the loss.

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