SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio Rampage (11-5-6-0) lost their second straight game to the Rockford IceHogs (15-5-1-2) 5-2 in front of 3,771 at the AT&T Center on Sunday evening. Mikko Rantanen and Colin Smith each tallied goals for San Antonio, and Calvin Pickard finished with 30 saves on 34 shots.
Phillip Danault got the IceHogs, the affiliate of the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks, on the board first, punching in a centering pass from Pierre-Cedric Labrie to make it 1-0 at 4:23. The Rampage answered later in the period with a Mikko Rantanen slap shot on the power play to knot the game at one. Just 37 seconds later, Ville Pokka’s cannon from long range beat Calvin Pickard, giving the lead back to the IceHogs, 2-1. 
The Silver and Black scored the equalizer before the end of the first frame. Noreau sent a stretch pass to Colin Smith skating into the Rampage zone, and Smith’s wrist shot on the break sent the teams into the first intermission tied at two.
Rockford took a one-goal advantage for the third time when Ryan Hartman backhanded a rebound off the boards past Pickard 4:29 into the middle frame. Labrie deflected Viktor Svedberg’s shot from the point in to give Rockford a 4-2 lead at the end of the second stanza.
Daniel Paille tallied an empty-net goal, the first empty-netter of the season against the Rampage, to give Rockford a 5-2 win.
San Antonio was 1-for-4 on the power play while the IceHogs notched two goals on three opportunities with the man advantage.
Quotable
“We have to get back to playing the way we were before. Our transition game was good, our forecheck was good, and right now, none of those things are good. We have two days of practice and we’re going to be able to go through some things. There are no easy games in this league. Every night you have to go out and earn it.”
– Rampage coach Dean Chynoweth
Key Stat
Smith extended his point streak to a season-high eight games and now has 10 points over San Antonio’s last eight contests.
Sunday’s game was the 250thAHL game coached for Rampage bench boss Dean Chynoweth.
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