ROCKFORD, Ill. – After the Iowa Wild battled back from a two-goal second period deficit, the Rockford IceHogs scored four unanswered goals to take a 6-2 win and split the weekend series between the two teams.

Iowa outshot Rockford 10-8 in a scoreless first period.

The IceHogs scored the first two goals in the early portion of an action-packed middle frame. Mike Hardman broke the ice at 3:21 with a shot from the left circle that ramped off the stick of a Wild defender and over the shoulder of Jesper Wallstedt (25 saves). Boris Katchouk doubled Rockford’s lead 1:41 later with a rebound finish during 4-on-4 play.

Nic Petan pulled Iowa back within a goal at 15:07 of the second. After Kyle Masters fired a point shot toward the net, Steven Fogarty spun a pass through the slot and into the left circle. Petan snapped the loose puck through Jaxson Stauber (27 saves) to score his fourth goal of the season.

Caedan Bankier tied the game with 49 seconds to play in the second. Jujhar Khaira tipped a centering pass from Joël Teasdale on goal and Bankier slammed home the rebound.

Iowa entered the second intermission with a 26-19 advantage in shots.

Colton Dach put Rockford up for good 7:03 into the third period when he finished off a short side feed that Jackson Cates delivered from behind the Iowa goal.

David Gust extended the IceHogs lead to 4-2 at 9:32 when he jammed home a rebound chance on the power play.

Katchouk and Cates added empty-net goals in the closing minutes to seal the game.

Rockford outshot Iowa 31-29. The Wild were 0-for-6 on the man advantage while the IceHogs went 1-for-6 on the power play.

Iowa visits UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena to play the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m.