Rockford IceHogs playoff push: Chicago opens second-round series with victory

Here's a look at the continued 2022 AHL playoff push for the Rockford IceHogs.

Who: No. 4 Rockford IceHogs vs. No. 1 Chicago Wolves

What: Best-of-5 AHL Central Division semifinal

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Last game: Wolves pounded the Hogs 6-2 in Game 1 on Thursday night.

Highlights: Star Hogs' forward Lukas Reichel forced a turnover and netted an unassisted goal early in the opening frame to give Rockford the 1-0 lead. Reichel led the season series against the Wolves with five goals and 10 assists during the regular season, and the Hogs were 8-3-0-1 against the Wolves, including a 5-0-0-1 record at Allstate Arena — before Thursday.

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It turned fast. The Wolves struck twice with less than a minute remaining in the first period, the last coming with just nine seconds left and on a power play. Chicago then extended its lead to 3-1 early in the second, and the Wolves pushed two more past Rockford goalie Cale Morris to make it 5-1 in the second.

Arvid Soderblom replaced Morris to start the third period, but the Wolves scored just 36 seconds into the final period, making Evan Barratt's first postseason goal worthless.

What they said: "We didn't play hard enough," Reichel said. "If we play harder we know we can beat them, we did it in the regular season, so. We had too many penalties and we were in too much of the PK. Overall, we just have to learn from it. It's just one game."

Special teams stat of the night: Chicago finished the contest 2-for-7 on the power play while the Hogs went 0-for-4.

Next up: The Hogs and Wolves will face off in Game 2 at 7 p.m. Saturday back at Allstate Arena at 7:00 p.m. Game 3 will be played at 4 p.m. Sunday at BMO Harris Bank Center in Rockford. If necessary, Game 4 will also be in Rockford at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Game 5 will be back in Rosemont at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Jay Taft is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at jtaft@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @JayTaft. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford IceHogs vs. Chicago Wolves in Game 1 of AHL playoff series