ROCKFORD, Ill. – Alexander Pashin scored his first North American goal and Nathan Sucese and Jamieson Rees also found the back of the net but it wasn’t enough as the Chicago Wolves fell to the IceHogs 5-3 on Friday night in Rockford.
Chicago had its two-game winning streak snapped as former Wolves player David Gust had two goals and three assists to lead the IceHogs. Brett Seney added a goal and two assists while Alec Regula and Jakub Regula also scored to help Rockford snap a three-game losing skid.
“I actually thought we battled,” Wolves coach Brock Sheahan said. “We carried the play early. We’re going to watch this game again and see that there were a lot of good, quality chances for us.”
The Wolves struck first when Pashin sent a laser beam from the left dot that sailed over the shoulder of Rockford goaltender Dylan Wells into the back of the net. The first-period score marked Pashin’s first goal of the season and first with the Wolves after playing in Russia last season.
After Rockford took the lead with a pair of goals early in the second, Sucese scored his first goal of the season when he banged in a pass into the crease from teammate David Farrance.
Rockford then reeled off three consecutive goals to take a 5-2 lead before Rees knocked in a feed from Max Lajoie from in close to cut the deficit to two. On Rees’ first goal of the season, Anttoni Honka earned his second assist of the game.
That was it for the scoring as the Wolves fell to 2-3-0-0 on the season while Rockford improved to 2-3-0-0.
“They’re a good team,” Sheahan said of the IceHogs. “They have a lot of talent and I thought some of our puck management led to good opportunities for them that they capitalized on.”
Zachary Sawchenko (19 saves) suffered the loss in goal for the Wolves while Wells (24 saves) earned the win.
Next up: The Wolves will take on the Milwaukee Admirals at 7 p.m. on Saturday night at Allstate Arena.
For information on Wolves ticket plans for the 2022-23 season — everything from single-game tickets to Flex Packs to group outings — visit ChicagoWolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
