ROCKFORD, Ill. – The Rockford IceHogs rode a four-goal second period to defeat the Iowa Wild by a 6-3 score at BMO Center on Saturday night.
Brett Seney opened the scoring for Rockford when he tipped a backdoor feed past Zane McIntyre (28 saves) 5:44 into a back-and-forth first period.
Simon Johansson responded for the Wild at 10:15 of the first. Johansson stole a puck at the Iowa blue line and snapped a wrister under the glove of Jaxson Stauber (30 saves).
Mike Hardman put the IceHogs back on top 2:25 later with a power-play one-timer from the left hash marks.
Iowa knotted the score at 2-2 with 5:50 remaining in the opening frame. Adam Raska forced a turnover in the Rockford zone and found Kevin Conley in the left circle for a short side shot over Stauber.
The Wild and IceHogs entered the first intermission tied at 2-2. Iowa outshot Rockford 12-11 in the opening 20 minutes.
Anders Bjork put Rockford ahead for good at 4:33 of the second when he finished off a centering feed from Michal Teply on the power play.
Nolan Allan widened the IceHogs advantage to 4-2 just 57 seconds later with a one-timer from the top of the right circle.
Cole Guttman slashed through the Iowa defense and chipped a shot over McIntyre at 16:44 of the middle frame.
Rem Pitlick scored Rockford’s fourth goal of the middle frame with 11 seconds to play off a centering pass from Seney.
Rockford carried a 6-2 lead into the second intermission. The Wild outshot the IceHogs 26-25 through 40 minutes.
Iowa’s power play broke through with 7:03 remaining when Caedan Bankier set up Daemon Hunt for a point shot that bounced in off Adam Beckman.
Rockford outshot Iowa 34-33. The Wild were 1-for-5 with the man advantage while the IceHogs went 2-for-4 on the power play.
Iowa visits Allstate Arena to take on the Chicago Wolves on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 3 p.m.