Ice Hogs and Wolves hit their stride

The opening weekend of the American Hockey League was not friendly to the Chicago Wolves or Rockford Ice Hogs. But both teams turned things around this past weekend.

The 0-2 Ice Hogs started a three-game weekend Friday (Oct. 21) at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, breaking into the win column and also handing the host Grand Rapids Griffins its first defeat of the season 2-1.

The following day, the Ice Hogs earned a 3-2 win in a shootout against the Milwaukee Admirals in its home opener at the BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford. On Sunday the IceHogs avenged its opening weekend defeats in Cleveland with a 5-2 win on home ice against the visiting Cleveland Monsters.

The Wolves entered the weekend having dropped its first three, but collected a pair of wins at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, defeating the host Rampage 4-2 on Saturday and 2-1 on Sunday.

The Iowa Stars meanwhile continued of a stretch of seven straight home games to open the season, splitting with the visiting Charlotte Checkers. After getting pasted 8-3 on Friday, the Stars bounced back for a 2-1 win the following night.

Other Saturday night action saw the host Griffins edging the Monsters 3-2 at Van Andel.

Friday Games

IceHogs 2 at Griffins 1

Lars Johansson, 29, picked up his first American Hockey League victory in this one, the veteran Swedish pro handling all but one of the 28 shots fired at him by the host Griffins.

After a scoreless opening period, Spencer Abbott notched his first of the season 8:28 into the second and the IcHogs carried a 1-0 lead into the final 20 minutes.

Martin Lundberg, 26, another Swedish vet moving his act to North America scored his first AHL goal 7:35 into the final period and that stood up as the game winner.

The lone Griffins goal came from Anthony Mantha, his sixth of the young season with 10:07 to play in the contest. Jared Coreau made 30 saves in goal for the Griffs.

Checkers 8 at Stars 3

The Stars entered this weekend having dropped two of its first three, all on home ice, and Friday things got worse as the visiting Checkers exploded for eight at the Wells Fargo Arena.

Steve Michalek was relieved after getting beat three times on the first five shots of the game at the 6:35 mark and Alex Stalock got roughed up for two more before the opening segment as the Checkers opened up a 5-1 lead.

Both teams added single goals in the middle period and the visitors held a 2-1 edge down the stretch.

Mario Lucia counted the first period goal for the Stars with Kurtis Gabriel notching one in the second and Christoph Bertschy in the final frame. For all three, the goal was their first of the season.

Rookie Andrew Poturalski, 22, led the way for the Checkers with two goals and a couple of assists, with other goals for: Patrick Dwyer, Keegan Lowe, Derek Ryan, Lucas Walmark, Valentin Zykov and Brendan Woods. Michael Leighton made 22 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Checkers.

Saturday Games

Admirals 2 at IceHogs 3

Abbott and Mark McNeill both scored in the shootout to bring a crowd of 5,465 and end the home opener in style for the Ice Hogs.

All four regulation goals came in the middle period as McNeill opened the scoring at the 6:25 mark and Carl Dahlstrom, 21, a Second Round (51st Overall) selection of the Chicago BlackHawks in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft doubled the IceHogs lead with 5:40 to play in the period.

Felix Girard scored his first of the season for the Admirals just 21 seconds after the Dahlstrom marker and 51 seconds after that Matt White tied it up for the Ads.

After a scoreless and overtime period, Abbot and McNeill’s goals stood up thanks to a pair of stops by Johansson who also had 32 saves in the game. Mark Visentin handled 34 of 36 in goal for the Admirals.

Wolves 4 at Rampage 2

The Wolves came into the weekend mired in a three game season opening losing streak and found itself down 2-0 halfway through this one in Texas.

Ivan Barbashev drilled his second of the season with 4:04 to go in the middle period for the Wolves though and Wade Megan‘s final minute goal had teams even heading to the final 20 minutes.

Kenny Agostino collected his second to give the Wolves its first lead with 5:29 to play and Megan fired his second of the night and season into an empty net with 53 seconds to play.

J.T. Compher, 21, scored his first professional goal in the opening minute of the contest and the other San Antonio marker came from Ryan Stanton.

Jordan Binnington stopped 30 of 32 to pick up the first win of the season in goal for the Wolves and Jeremy Smith made 19 saves for the Rampage.

Checkers 1 at Stars 2

After its lopsided win the previous evening, the Checkers managed just one goal against Stalock who turned aside 35 as Ryan gave his team a brief 1-0 lead late in the opening period.

Grayson Downing notched the equalizer with 1:39 to play in the period and the game winner came from Adam Gilmour, 22, the first as a pro for the Fourth Round (98th Overall) pick of the Minnesota Wild in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, just past the halfway mark of the second period.

Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 27 shots in goal for the Rampage in his second game as a pro after being selected in the Second Round (37th Overall) by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

Monsters 2 at Griffins 3

The Griffins rebounded from its first loss of the campaign on home ice, opening up a 3-0 lead and then holding off a late onslaught for a 3-2 win against the previously undefeated Monsters.

The Monsters held a 16-7 edge in shots through the first period but Coreau of the Griffins and Anton Forsberg of the Monsters were both unbeaten in goal.

Ben Street found an opening for the Griffins at the 13:02 mark of the middle period and Tyler Bertuzzi added another for the home side in the final minute of the frame.

Robbie Russo‘s goal had the Griffs up 3-0 29 seconds into the final period but the Monsters rallied back late with a pair of goals from Alex Broadhurst. His first came at the 12:51 mark and the other one with 45 seconds to play.

Coreau picked up the win with a 37-save effort while Forsberg stopped 29 in goal for the Monsters.

Monsters 2 at IceHogs 5

The rough road trip continued for the Monsters as the IceHogs also scored the first three and never trailed on its way to the win.

Kyle Baun and Lundberg had gave the IceHogs a 2-0 first period lead and Abbott notched one 4:03 into the second period before Aaron Pulashaj and Daniel Zaar both found the net in the final three minutes of the second period to make it a 3-2 game.

Brandon Mashinter padded the Rockford lead 6:35 into the final period and Dahlstrom’s empty netter with 30 seconds to go clinched the IceHogs win.

Mac Carruth got the call for the IceHogs, stopping 27 shots to pick up the win and Brad Thiessen made 30 saves in goal for the Monsters.

Wolves 2 at Rampage 1

Brad Hunt‘s goal at the 10:26 mark of the third period completed a Wolves rally and wrapped up a sweep of its two games in Texas.

Turner Elson scored the lone Rampage goal in the game’s fourth minute and the lone second period marker came from Brett Sterling who tied it up for the Wolves with his second of the season.

Ville Husso had 29 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Wolves and Spencer Martin stopped 24 in goal for the Rampage.

This Week

The Monsters will say on the road with a visit to the Iowa Stars on Tuesday night, the lone Mid-Week game for Midwest based AHL teams. That gamer will also feature a preview for action this weekend.