Iowa Wild Rally in Third Period, Fall to Rockford in Shootout

A two-goal third-period rally from Ben Jones brought Iowa all the way back from 3-1 down, but Rem Pitlick and Joey Anderson converted in the shootout and the Rockford IceHogs walked out of Casey's Center on Sunday with the extra point, 4-3.

Gerry Mayhew opened the scoring 6:33 into the first on a power play, finishing off feeds from Dylan Gambrell and David Spacek to give Rockford an early lead. Samuel Savoie tied it for Iowa at 4:21 of the second, but the IceHogs reasserted themselves with authority. Dillon Boucher restored the lead at 14:34, and Brett Seney pushed it to 3-1 at 16:25, sliding a backhand under the crossbar to leave Iowa facing a two-goal deficit heading into the final frame.

Jones changed the game at 7:21 of the third with a shorthanded 2-on-0 finish to pull Iowa within one. He completed the comeback with 1:09 left in regulation on a scramble sequence: David Spacek set Hunter Haight up at the left point, the puck caromed loose, and Jones poked it home to level the game at 3-3.

The five-minute overtime was scoreless. Pitlick and Anderson each converted in the shootout for the IceHogs, and Iowa dropped the extra point in the skills competition.

Iowa outshot Rockford 36-28 for the game and went 1-for-5 on the power play. The Wild successfully killed all but one of Rockford's power-play chances, with the IceHogs finishing 1-for-4. William Rousseau stopped 24 of 28 shots for Iowa; Olivier Rodrigue was sharp in the Rockford crease, finishing with 33 saves on 36 attempts.

The result tightens the Central Division race at a critical point in the schedule. Rockford's extra point contributes to Chicago's clinch scenario and keeps the IceHogs in strong positioning shape. Iowa continues to find ways to make games interesting without finding ways to finish them.