With their captain Tim Brent back in the lineup after a brief one-game stop in the NHL, the Rockford IceHogs faced off against West Division foe Quad City Flames. The shake-up from the recent NHL trades has visibly affected the Hogs’ cohesive play, causing them to lose their second game in a row, 4-1.

On Wednesday, before the end of the trade deadline, the Chicago Blackhawks dealt defenseman James Wisniewski to the Anaheim Ducks. As a result, defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson went up to fill that void, along with forward Pascal Pelletier (playing for the injured Patrick Sharp). The holes in the Rockford bench do not end there. Besides Wisniewski, the Ducks also acquired Rockford’s leading scorer Petri Kontiola. With four players missing (backup goaltender Antti Niemi has been on the Hawks’ bench since February 12, filling in for the injured Nikolai Khabibulin), the IceHogs have to restructure and regroup as they head into the final stretch before the playoffs.

“[The trades] changed our hockey team a little bit,” said IceHogs’ head coach Bill Peters. “We haven’t moved the puck very well here the last two games; but that’s a by-product of us not working hard enough to be in position to support each other and be ready to have some puck movement. Right now, we’re not in synch with each other . . . you can see that out there, we’re not a very aggressive team—not very confident looking team right now, until we get that mindset changed around, its going to be tough.”

The Flames took advantage of this, lit the lamp first, and never looked back. The IceHogs’ Sean McMorrow took a bad penalty when he dropped his gloves to agitate Quad City’s Brad Brown. Brown did not drop his gloves, but McMorrow continued to engage. Brown held back and McMorrow ended up in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct (3:18). The resulting power play ended with Adam Cracknell blasting a one-timer past Rockford goaltender Corey Crawford (4:54), giving the Flames a 1-0 lead.

The second period yielded more of the same. Quad City’s Carsen Germyn chipped a centering pass in from J.D. Watt behind the net, putting the Flames comfortably ahead by two (5:39). Kyle Greentree scored his 30th goal of the season, dancing and dazzling his way into the IceHogs’ zone to slip a backhander between Crawford’s legs (11:26) off a Brett Sutter (member of the famous Sutter family that has produced numerous legendary hockey players) pass. That was enough for Crawford; he headed to the bench and Joe Fallon came in to replace him.

The lack of confidence that Coach Peters spoke of could be seen in the numbers. The Flames outshot the IceHogs 23-13 in the first two periods. Crawford gave up three goals on 19 shots, whereas Quad City’s Leland Irving was flawless.

However, a different team appeared on the ice for Rockford in the third. The IceHogs stepped up the offense and dominated the period, outshooting the Flames, 15-4. The Hogs came within sniffing distance when Tim Hambly tipped in an airborne pass that bounced past Irving (15:35). A late penalty for the Flames (Brown, hooking, 17:36) gave the fans at the Metro Centre a last glimmer of hope.

With the puck deep in the Flames’ zone, Fallon headed to the bench. The IceHogs tried and tried, relentlessly attacking, but the Flames’ defense held strong. John Vigilante put an end to the assault, and the game, when he sent the puck sliding down the ice from Quad City’s zone towards the empty net, giving the Flames a 4-1 lead, with just 38 seconds left.

After the game, Coach Peters looked upon the recent shakeup in the lineup in a positive light.

“It changes things . . . but you want guys going up, that’s why they’re here. They’re here trying to earn their way up into the National Hockey League—you’re happy for your guys when they get called up. I look at as an opportunity for other guys. If you get some prominent players called up, it’s opening up their quality ice time; like with Pelletier out of the lineup, its opening up a spot for somebody on the first power play unit.

“Now, it’s up to that player to take advantage of it. There are good opportunities here for young players; now they have to capitalize on it . . . It’s a positive thing when there’s guys up from the farm playing in the [NHL] and now, the other guys have to take advantage of additional ice time.”

The IceHogs will not have much time to work out the kinks before their next game against the Peoria Rivermen on Saturday night. The 4-1 loss to the Flames marked the IceHogs’ second in a row. Let’s hope they can find what it takes to defeat the Rivermen and claim second place in the West Division all to themselves.

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