Week 14 Report: Hogs Seeking First Win of New Year

GAME NOTES

Dylan McLaughlin netted his first career AHL goal during Friday's loss at Iowa. With McLaughlin's tally, 10 IceHogs skaters have scored their first career AHL goal this season in Hagel (11 goals), Wedin (7 goals), Kurashev (5 goals), Entwistle (5 goals), Johnson (4 goals), Beaudin (2 goals), Boqvist (1 goal), Soderlund (1 goal), McLaughlin (2 goals) and Osipov (1 goal).

McLaughlin followed his first AHL goal Friday with a marker in the following contest Sunday against the Wolves. He accomplished an identical feat with his first career AHL point last season, notching assists in back-to-back games (March 23 and April 14 vs. Milwaukee) for his first and second points of his AHL career.

Rockford scored a power-play goal for its lone tally on Friday at Iowa. The IceHogs have now netted six power-play goals over the last nine games and seven power-play goals over the last 11 contests.

Spencer Watson signed a PTO with the IceHogs on Sunday and made his team season debut against the Wolves. Prior to joining Rockford, Watson ranked first in the ECHL in power-play points (16) and power-play goals (8), second in total goals (20) and tied for third in scoring (39).

Former IceHogs forward Dylan Sikura scored his first career NHL goal during Chicago's win over Detroit Sunday at the United Center. Sikura logged 13 assists over 43 games before finally lighting the lamp in his 44th NHL game with the Blackhawks. Including Sikura, five IceHogs skaters from the 2019-20 season have scored a goal with Chicago this season and combined for 11 total NHL goals on the year.

The IceHogs dropped each of their three games last week and have now suffered a season-high six straight losses since Dec. 21. The skid is currently the longest active winless and losing streaks in the AHL and is tied for the third-longest overall losing streak in the league entering Monday. The team enters Wednesday's matchup seeking to avoid dropping seven consecutive games in regulation for the first time during its AHL affiliation.

Goaltender Kevin Lankinen was named the IceHogs' representative for the 2020 AHL All-Star Classic. He is just the second IceHogs netminder to attend the AHL All-Star Game.

UPCOMING GAMES

Wednesday, Jan. 8 | Rockford vs. Manitoba (7 p.m.) Bring your dog to the BMO for a Wednesday Dog Days matchup against the Manitoba Moose. Wednesday is also a Winning Weekday game, and fans can redeem their ticket vouchers from a previous weekday win at home for a ticket of equal or lesser value to the game on Jan. 8.

Friday, Jan. 10 | Rockford at Milwaukee (7 p.m.) The IceHogs travel to Milwaukee for the front end of a two-game set against the Admirals. Rockford is 1-1-0-0 against Milwaukee thus far in 2019-20.

Saturday, Jan. 11 | Rockford at Milwaukee (6 p.m.) The Hogs complete their brief road trip to Milwaukee with a Saturday evening contest against the Ads. The IceHogs last won at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on April 9 of last season.