ROCKFORD, Ill. – Trailing 3-1 in the third, Cole Guttman led a daring comeback for the Rockford IceHogs with two goals in the third period of Saturday’s game against the Grand Rapids Griffins to tie the game at 3-3, but a late goal by Zach Aston-Reese sealed a 4-3 Grand Rapids regulation win. The Hogs are now eight points behind the Griffins for third place in the Central Division.
Guttman’s two tallies extend his point streak to five games (6G, 3A), and the second-year IceHog now has 11 goals in his last 11 games.
The Grand Rapids Griffins tallied a goal early in the game on an errant play by Rockford when Cross Hanas intercepted the puck. Hanas tossed the puck toward the net where the puck hit an IceHogs’ skate and bounced into the net (6:53)
Rockford incurred a holding penalty to give Grand Rapids a power-play advantage. Marco Kasper scored on the power play as he tipped a shot in front of the net to double the Griffins’ lead (13:36).
Grand Rapids continued to tally goals as they scored their third goal near the end of the second period. Antti Tuomisto scored his fifth goal of the year to expand the Griffin's lead to 3-0 (13:55).
Rockford responded a few minutes later when Jackson Cates won a faceoff for the IceHogs and passed the puck to Philip Roos. Roos maneuvered along the boards and through Grand Rapids’ defense to the front of the net. Roos sent a wrist shot into the back of the net to cut the lead to 3-1 (16:46)
With 14 minutes to go in regulation, Brett Seney set up Rem Pitlick on the left side of the net. Pitlick tipped the puck toward the half wall where Seney sent the puck to Guttman in the slot. Guttman, lying on the ice, rose to his feet and sent a one-timer into the net to cut Grand Rapids’ lead to just one goal.
With the final minutes of regulation left, Isaak Phillips poked-checked the puck away from one of the Griffins and sent a pass to Pitlick. Guttman cut into the front of the net, received the puck from Pitlick, and whipped the equalizer into the net (16:29).
Grand Rapids responded with a goal that just trickled over the goal line under Drew Commesso which would result in an official review. The review confirmed the goal for a 4-3 Grand Rapids lead (18:44).
Rockford travels east on I-90 next weekend for their next matchup against the Chicago Wolves on Wednesday, March 27. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
Comments