IceHogs spank Wolves for 3rd time in 2 weeks; 6-4

A wild Saturday night in Rockford's MetroCentre gave the Chicago Wolves yet another loss at the hands of the Rockford IceHogs, as the Hogs won their third game against the Wolves in ten days, 6-4.

Pascal Pelletier scored a hat trick and an assist in a game that saw both goalies replaced in net. Starting for the Wolves, Brent Krahn was replaced by Dan Turple after he gave up his fourth goal of the night before the halfway mark of the game. Pelletier scored two goals divided by Petri Kontiola and Jack Skille's goals. Krahn stopped just six of the shots on goal in his roughly 27 minutes in net.

Yet, this was followed by a Wolves offensive, as 16 shots on goal in the second frame put three goals past Corey Crawford in less than five minutes. Antti Niemi then stopped the Wolves cold in the third period. Pelletier's hat trick forced the Wolves to pull Dan Turple for a man advantage with less than a minute remaining. Rob Klinkhammer put the final goal in the empty net to seal the day for the Hogs. It was a notable empty net goal because it occurred during a penalty kill, in other words the Hogs were fighting a 6:4 advantage.

Zach Bogosian was credited with a blistering six shots on goal and a power play goal in the fracas. But Pelletier beat even that high mark, with his seven shots on goal. Skille picked up two assist for a total of three points for the evening.

The win tightens the Western Division race for second place. The Milwaukee Admirals have run away with first place, with 50 points and a game in hand over all their opponents. They have won 15 points in the last 8 eights. At 42 points, Peoria and Iowa are just a point ahead of the fourth place teams of Rockford, Chicago and Houston. Chicago meets San Antonio mid-week before yet another game, the fourth in two weeks, against the Rockford IceHogs on Friday in Rockford's MetroCentre.