Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-Time was running out on the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night
in Oklahoma City, but a blast from a rookie
helped the Hogs top the Barons at the Cox Convention Center
4-3 in a shootout.
With time winding down, Brandon Pirri fired a pass to the right point, in the Oklahoma City zone, to
Adam Clendening and the rookie defenseman blasted his sixth goal of the season
over the shoulder of Niko Hovinen with just two seconds left in regulation to
tie the score at 3-3.
After a scoreless overtime session, Brad Mills won it for Rockford
in the fifth round of the shootout, breaking a 1-1 stalemate while helping Rockford steal two points
against the Barons. Rookie winger Terry Broadhurst scored the IceHogs other
lone shootout goal in the first round while Mark Arcobello tallied for the
Barons in the fourth round.
The IceHogs held the Barons to just one third period shot and a season-low 15
overall in the game. Rockford
fired 38 shots in on Hovinen. Pirri's assist on Clendening's game-winning goal
extended his team season-high point streak to nine straight games.
Rockford had several chances to crack Hovinen in
the first period, but it was Oklahoma
City who snagged the first goal. Toni Rajala forced a
turnover in the Rockford
zone and beat Carter Hutton over the right shoulder at 16:22 to give the Barons
a 1-0 advantage.
Early in the second period, the IceHogs evened the score at 1-1. Broadhurst
picked up a Brandon Svendsen pass and beat Hovinen with a wrist shot five-hole
from the slot at 2:47 for his fourth tally of the season.
A Rockford
power play later in the stanza resulted in a Barons shorthanded strike. A pass
hopped away from Ben Youds at the left point and Oklahoma City's Arcobello picked up the loose
change and beat Hutton on a breakaway at 11:28.
Rockford evened
the score just over two minutes later when Ben Smith redirected a Dylan Olsen
point shot for his 18th tally of the season at 13:37. But OKC tied it while
skating 4-on-4 at 15:18 when Taylor Fedun cleaned up a Rajala pass, making it
3-2 Barons.
These two teams meet again on Saturday night at the Cox Convention Center
at 7 p.m.
