Rockford IceHogs Edge San Diego Gulls 3-2 at Pechanga Arena

Rockford's second period was the whole story. The IceHogs scored three unanswered goals in the middle frame on March 6 at Pechanga Arena San Diego, then held on through a scoreless third to beat the Gulls 3-2 and pocket a road win that required Olivier Rodrigue to make 28 saves to secure.

San Diego drew first blood at 13:10 of the first period when Sasha Pastujov cleaned up a rebound behind Rodrigue off feeds from Matthew Phillips and Cal Burke. It was Pastujov's 13th goal of the season, and he would finish the night with 40 points on the year after adding an assist on San Diego's second goal.

Rockford answered early in the second when Nick Lardis snapped a shot from the near dot for his 18th of the season to tie the game at one. The IceHogs then took the lead on a textbook 3-on-2 rush: Kevin Lombardi fed Rem Pitlick in the slot, and Pitlick found Dominic Toninato by the back post to make it 2-1.

The sequence that flipped the game was the shorthanded strike. With San Diego on the power play, Gavin Hayes turned a Gulls turnover into a slot finish to push Rockford ahead 3-1. The Gulls converted on the same power play when Sam Colangelo put a one-timer through to cut the deficit back to one, with assists credited to Pastujov and defenseman Tristan Luneau. Colangelo's goal was his fifth power-play tally of the season, co-leading San Diego in that category, and he now sits at 9 goals and 11 assists across 34 games with the Gulls.

Despite the advantage in power plays, San Diego couldn't finish. The Gulls had six opportunities with the man advantage and converted once; Rockford had four chances and scored none on the power play, though Hayes made the penalty kill count. The game drew 10 penalties in total, and the special teams battle largely defined the outcome.

In the third, the Gulls pushed for the equalizer but Rodrigue held firm. It was his first win as a member of the IceHogs. At the other end, Tomas Suchanek made his third straight start, the longest consecutive run of his season, and stopped 14 of 17 shots but posted a .824 save percentage on the night.

The loss dropped San Diego to 24-18-8-4 and extended a slide to 0-2-1-0 over their last four. The Gulls remained at 60 points, one behind fifth-place Coachella Valley in the Pacific Division standings, with the Firebirds idle that night. Phillips, who picked up two assists on Pastujov's opening goal alongside Burke, carries 39 points on the season with three coming over his past three contests.

The two teams turned around and played again the following night at the same building, with San Diego taking the rematch 6-4 to close out their season series. Rockford heads back to the Central Division schedule with a home date against Milwaukee on March 11 looming.