Rockford, IL. – The Rockford IceHogs began their final home stand of the regular season with a 2-1 loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Wednesday night inside the BMO Center.
Five penalties were called in the opening minute and Grand Rapids earned three separate power plays. On their second man-advantage, Ondrej Becher received a received a cross-ice pace and beat Drew Commesso against the grain.
Rockford took four-straight penalties in the middle period and gave Grand Rapids over three minutes of 5-on-3 time. After Shai Buium’s shot was knocked down in front, Sheldon Dries batted the puck out of midair to give the Griffins a 2-0 lead.
Halfway through the 3rd period, the IceHogs finally broke through to cut the deficit to 2-1. Taige Harding patiently fed Paul Ludwinski in front of the near post to shoot into an open cage.
Rockford pulled its goaltender in the final two minutes, but couldn’t find the tying goal past Grand Rapids’ goaltender Sebastian Cossa.
