Philp Scores Two as IceHogs Down Wild
DES MOINES, IA – Luke Philp scored two goals and Arvid Soderblom made 29 saves as the Rockford IceHogs defeated the Iowa Wild on Friday, 3-1. The loss dropped Iowa to 0-7-2 in their last nine. Nick Swaney scored the lone goal for Iowa and Jesper Wallstedt made 22 saves.
After a scoreless first period, Philp scored twice in the second to put Rockford on top. The first came at 5:09. Philp passed the puck to Dylan Sikura, who fed it right back to Philp. He fired a shot that went just under the pad of Wallstedt for his 16th goal of the year.
At the nine-minute mark, the IceHogs were on the power-play. Lukas Reichel made a perfect backdoor feed to Philp, who redirected the puck past of the Wild netminder to extend the lead to two.
Rockford extended their lead 6:43 into the third period, scoring their second power-play goal of the game. Alex Vlasic passed the puck to Bobby Lynch, who lifted a wrist shot that beat Wallstedt for his seventh goal of the season.
The Wild had been shut down by Soderblom through the first 53 minutes, but finally broke through, using a power-play to cut the deficit to two. With Wallstedt pulled for the extra attacker, Marco Rossi sent the puck to Steven Fogarty at the far post. He made a one-touch pass across to Swaney, who lifted the puck under the crossbar for his 13th goal of the year.
The Wild outshot the IceHogs, 30-25. Rockford was 2-3 on the power-play while Iowa was 1-4 with the man-advantage.
These two teams will go at it again on Saturday in Rockford. The puck drops at 6:00.
By Robert Pannier
