Rockford, Ill. – The Rockford IceHogs were shut out 3-0 by the Laval Rocket on Friday night after a game delay and tornado warning.
The first period was interrupted by a tornado warning at 7:25 p.m., and the BMO Center’s seating bowl was evacuated. After a five minute warmup and 8:20 left on the game clock, the initial frame resumed play at 8:13 p.m. and remained scoreless before the first intermission.
After a scoreless first period, neither team could capitalize on a flurry of penalties to start the second stanza. Breaking through nearing the end of the middle frame, Laval scored first when former IceHog Nicolas Beaudin’s shot from the right point was tipped in by Rocket forward Emil Heineman at 17:42 to take a 1-0 lead.
The Rocket added some cushion late in the third period and took a 2-0 lead. Notching his second assist of the night, Beaudin shuttled the disc into a cluster of skates in the low slot, and Laval forward Mitchell Stephens fished out the loose puck and flicked a wrister over the glove of Rockford netminder Arvid Soderblom at 9:36.
As Rockford pulled Soderblom in favor of the extra skater at 18:11, Stephens tallied an empty-netter from the right boards at center ice at 18:17 and sealed the match 3-0.
Despite the underwhelming offensive performance, the IceHogs’ special teams went a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Soderblom marked 37 saves on the 39 Laval shots he faced, and Rocket goaltender Cayden Primeau stopped all of Rockford’s 26 shots to earn the win.
You must be logged in to post a comment.