ROCKFORD, Ill. – Jean-Luc Foudy buried the eventual game-winning goal with 5:36 remaining to silence the BMO Center as the Iowa Wild beat the Rockford IceHogs 5-4 in a thriller on Friday night. The win pulled Iowa within six points of the Milwaukee Admirals for the final Central Division playoff spot with four games to play.
Mark Liwiski set the tone for Iowa with an early fight against Connor Mylymok and Nicolas Aubé-Kubel followed with a breakaway goal at 5:54 with assists from Hunter Haight and Carson Lambos.
Samuel Savoie tied the game at 17:08, but Haight responded 47 seconds later with a wrister over the shoulder of Drew Commesso (15 saves) with an assist from David Spacek.
The Wild outshot the IceHogs 10-8 in the first period.
Rem Pitlick beat Hlavaj from the left circle 7:39 into the middle frame, but Haight restored Iowa’s lead again at 11:48 when he buried a loose puck on the power play.
Jamie Engelbert tied the game at 3-3 with a backhand from close range 1:59 later.
Gerry Mayhew collected a centering feed from Foudy and elevated a shot over Olivier Rodrigue (11 saves) with three seconds remaining in the middle frame to put Iowa ahead for a fourth time.
Iowa outshot Rockford 22-15 through 40 minutes.
Brett Seney set up Joey Anderson on a 2-on-1 to tie the game 9:54 into the third period.
The Wild finally found the winner with under six minutes to play. After Spacek sent an outlet pass for Mayhew to chip ahead, Foudy raced down the right wing and beat Rodrigue under the blocker.
Iowa outshot Rockford 31-30. The Wild finished 1-for-4 with the man advantage while the IceHogs went 1-for-2 on the power play.
Iowa travels to UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena to take on the Milwaukee Admirals on Sunday, Apr. 12 at 3 p.m.
