CHICAGO 6, ROCKFORD 1
Chicago remained tied for first in the West Division and dropped Rockford into fourth place with a 6-1 decision over the IceHogs at Allstate Arena.
The teams had begun the night in a three-way tie with Iowa atop the West.
Joe Motzko scored two goals and assisted on another, Brett Sterling had a goal and an assist and Jeff Hamilton notched three assists to help the Wolves snap a three-game losing streak.
Spencer Machacek, Colin Stuart and Jordan LaVallee also scored for Chicago, which opened up a 6-0 lead before Danny Groulx spoiled Robert Gherson’s shutout bid with 3:46 left in regulation.
Rockford had been 6-1-0-2 in its previous nine outings.
IOWA 2, LAKE ERIE 1 (OT)
Drew Miller’s wrister 2:52 into overtime lifted Iowa to a 2-1 win over Lake Erie in Cleveland on Saturday night.
Miller’s goal was his 11th of the season and his third game-winner.
Andrew Ebbett had a goal and an assist to go with a game-high eight shots for the Chops, who are 5-0-1-1 in their last seven games and remain tied for first place in the West Division. David LeNeveu made 26 saves in the victory.
Marty Sertich scored the only goal for the Monsters, who got 36 saves from Tyler Weiman in defeat.
NORFOLK 6, BRIDGEPORT 3
A night after an 8-1 loss in Albany, Norfolk turned the tables and rolled to a 6-3 victory in Bridgeport.
Bracken Kearns scored twice in the first period, Brandon Bochenski picked up a pair of power-play goals in the second and Grant Potulny (1g, 2a) and Zenon Konopka (3a) added three points apiece for the Admirals, who snapped a seven-game road winless streak (0-6-0-1).
Norfolk finished 3-for-4 on the power play while also getting a shorthanded goal from Brandon Segal.
Trevor Smith led the way with two goals and an assist for the Sound Tigers, who lost in regulation on home ice for just the second time all season (8-2-1-1).
HERSHEY 4, HARTFORD 2
Patrick McNeill’s shorthanded goal 3:55 into the third period stood up as the game-winner in Hershey’s 4-2 victory over Hartford in front of 8,704 fans at Giant Center on Saturday.
The Bears tied a record for the 71-year-old franchise with their 10th consecutive win. It was also the club’s first home win over the Wolf Pack in since Nov. 21, 1998; Hartford had won its eight previous visits to Chocolatetown.
Maxime Lacroix, Francois Bouchard and former Wolf Pack forward Alexandre Giroux also scored for Hershey, and Simeon Varlamov made 26 saves to improve to 10-2-0 on the season.
Artem Anisimov and Tommy Pyatt scored for Hartford.
PORTLAND 5, LOWELL 2
Colton Fretter’s hat trick – the third three-goal game by a Pirate this season – lifted Portland to a 5-2 win over Lowell at the Tsongas Arena.
Marek Zagrapan and Mathieu Darche also scored and Tim Kennedy recorded three assists to help move the Pirates back into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division.
Mark Mancari, just back from an NHL stint with Buffalo, extended his AHL scoring streak to nine games (7g, 9a) with an assist.
Lowell got goals from Benoit Mondou and Anssi Salmela in the loss.
SPRINGFIELD 3, MANCHESTER 2
Ryan Potulny scored twice and Springfield held on for a 3-2 win over visiting Manchester at the MassMutual Center on Saturday.
Potulny scored with 1:29 left in the first period and again 21 seconds into the second frame, his 12th and 13th goals of the season.
Slava Trukhno added a goal and an assist and Mathieu Roy chipped in two assists for the Falcons, who have won six of their last eight home games.
Marty Murray and Vladimir Dravecky had the goals for the Monarchs, who have lost three straight away from home following a 5-0-0-0 road trip last month.
WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 7, ALBANY 3
Jeff Taffe and Jean-Michel Daoust each registered two goals and two assists as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defeated Albany, 7-3, in the first of eight meetings this season between the East Division foes.
Luca Caputi and Tim Wallace each had a goal and an assist, Nick Johnson netted his first career AHL goal and Jean-Philippe Cote tallied two assists and a plus-5 rating for the night.
Dwight Helminen picked up a goal and an assist and Jerome Samson recorded three helpers for the River Rats, who saw their seven-game points streak (5-0-0-1) come to an end.
PHILADELPHIA 5, BINGHAMTON 2
Patrick Maroon’s five-point night paced Philadelphia to a 5-2 win over visiting Binghamton at the Wachovia Spectrum on Saturday.
Maroon scored three of the Phantoms’ four power-play goals on the evening, and now has seven goals in his last nine games. The rookie scored a team-high 35 times for the OHL’s London Knights in 2007-08.
Jared Ross picked up a goal and an assist and former Senator Jeffrey Szwez also scored as the Phantoms overtook third-place Binghamton in the East Division.
Mattias Karlsson and Ilya Zubov scored for the Sens.
MILWAUKEE 6, TORONTO 2
Defenseman Alexander Sulzer tallied two goals and an assist to spark Milwaukee to a 6-2 win over Toronto at Ricoh Coliseum.
Sulzer, who now has seven points in his last three games (2g, 5a), broke a 2-2 tie with just 12 seconds left in the second period.
Mike Santorelli added a goal and two assists to run his scoring streak to nine games (7g, 11a). Andreas Thuresson (1g, 1a), Nick Spaling (1g, 1a) contributed two points apiece in the victory.
Ben Ondrus and Jiri Tlusty scored for the Marlies.
PEORIA 3, QUAD CITY 2 (SO)
Nikolay Lemtyugov notched two assists in regulation and the eventual winning goal in the shootout as Peoria edged Quad City, 3-2, at Carver Arena.
The Flames rallied from a pair of one-goal deficits, forcing overtime on Kyle Greentree’s second goal of the night with 1.8 seconds remaining in the third period.
Ivan Vishnevskiy and Josh Soares scored for the Rivermen, who are 10-2-1-0 on home ice this season.
HAMILTON 5, GRAND RAPIDS 2
Two goals from Kyle Chipchura and 23 saves from Cedrick Desjardins paced Hamilton to a 5-2 win over host Grand Rapids on Saturday.
Darren Haydar’s goal 56 seconds into the game gave the Griffins a quick lead, but Chipchura and Mathieu Aubin sent the Bulldogs to the locker room with a 2-1 edge after 20 minutes.
Rookies David Desharnais and Ryan White also scored for Hamilton, which snapped a three-game losing slide.
Grand Rapids dropped a regulation decision at home for just the second time all year (7-2-1-3).
HOUSTON 4, SYRACUSE 3
Houston scored three goals in 5:17 over the latter half of the second period, erasing a 2-0 deficit and setting the stage for a 4-3 win over visiting Syracuse.
Corey Locke finished with two goals and an assist, Maxim Noreau had a goal and an assist and Tomas Mojzis scored his first goal of the season to lead the Aeros’ offense.
Nikita Filatov led the Crunch with a goal and an assist and Kevin Harvey recorded his first career AHL goal, but Syracuse still dropped its third straight regulation decision for the first time since Oct. 20-26, 2007.
