ROCKFORD, Ill.—The Chicago Wolves opened a two-game road trip with a 3-2 victory over the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday night at BMO Center.
Tyson Jost had a goal and an assist while Brendan Lemieux and Noel Gunler also scored—all in the first period—to help the Wolves snap a four-game losing skid in the first of 12 meetings between the Central Division rivals.
“It’s been a little bit of a frustrating couple of weeks so it was nice to get a win,” Jost said. “I thought we played well. It feels good.”
The Wolves wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as Jost ripped a shot from the high slot that beat Rockford goaltender Mitchell Weeks to the stick side just 1 minute, 52 seconds into the opening period. Justin Robidas and Josiah Slavin recorded assists on Jost’s first goal of the season.
After the IceHogs knotted it at 1-1 a short time later on a power-play goal by Brett Seney, the Wolves exploded with two goals :58 apart.
First, Brendan Lemieux notched his second goal of the season when the veteran forward pounced on a rebound off a Scott Morrow shot from the point and fired the puck past Weeks. Morrow picked up the lone assist on the score.
The Wolves kept coming and extended the lead to 3-1 on Gunler’s tally. The forward took a touch pass from Jost and ripped a shot from between the rings that sailed by Weeks to the stick side. Jost and Joakim Ryan were awarded assists on Gunler’s first goal of the season.
Early in the second, the IceHogs pulled to within 3-2 on a goal by Gerry Mayhew and that’s the way it stood heading into the third period.
Neither team scored in the third and when the dust settled, the Wolves had snapped their losing skid.
“We were sticking with our game plan using our speed,” Jost said. “That’s a skilled team so it can kind of get into a track meet but I thought we did a pretty good job of containing them. We’re a young team so we need to keep building on this.”
Ruslan Khazheyev (21 saves) earned his first career AHL victory in goal for the Wolves while Weeks (19 saves) suffered the loss for the IceHogs.
“Shout-out to our goalie,” Jost said. “He was unbelievable. He was a stud. It was fun to watch.”
Chicago improved to 2-4-1-0 on the season while Rockford fell to 3-4-0-0.
Next up: The Wolves travel to Milwaukee to face the Admirals on Nov. 9 (6 p.m.).
For information on Wolves ticket plans for the 2024-25 season—everything from single-game tickets to Flex Packs to group outings—visit chicagowolves.com or call 1-800-THE-WOLVES.
