Garret Sparks set a Wolves record Sunday, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Rockford IceHogs.
Despite Sparks’ 34 saves, the Wolves lost 4-1 to Rockford in front of an announced crowd of 12,515. The Wolves were outshot 38-19 and playing without Gage Quinney (lower-body injury) for the third straight time, but were still down 2-1 with two minutes left before a pair of empty-net goals sealed their fourth loss to the IceHogs.
They had a chance to steal a point thanks to Sparks, who lost a chance at his third straight shutout when Anton Wedin tied the game with 5:32 left in the second period. It was also the first score Sparks allowed since the 3:08 mark of the middle period of the Wolves’ Oct. 23 win over Texas, a span of 191:14 and 115 consecutive saves.
The 191:14 is a new Wolves record, breaking the mark set by Matt Climie in 2013. Sparks said he’s pretty happy with his recent performance, while acknowledging he would’ve liked to make a couple more saves and that there’s always room for improvement.
“Honestly, Derek King, the head coach of the IceHogs, was one of my first coaches with the Marlies, and one of the first things he told me was, ‘everybody in the AHL is here for a reason,’” said Sparks, who faced 36 shots. “I still take that to heart. If you’re in this league, it’s a good league and you have to take every opportunity that you get to prove to somebody why you deserve to play in this league, let alone the next league.
“I just think that he’s a wise man and I think that we have a lot of guys who could stand to learn how special an opportunity they’re getting playing in this league.”
Sunday is basically what Wolves games will look like this season. Lacking a lot of offensive skill and experience, they’re going to rely on strong goaltending and special teams plus opportunistic scoring. Sometimes the formula will bring wins, other times it won’t.
This time, it didn’t lead to a win.
“We’re just a hard-working team,” said defenseman Dylan Coghlan, who scored the Wolves’ lone goal. “(Coach) Rocky (Thompson) is giving us a game plan. We’re not the most skilled team or anything like that, but I think we have some guys that can do some damage down low and that can work to our success.”
The Wolves didn’t score that way Sunday, but Sparks kept them in the game.
“He’s been incredible,” Coghlan said. “He seems to always be there when we need a big save. Both goalies have done a good job of that. He was awesome tonight and he’s been awesome for us the whole season.”
With the game tied at 1, Lucas Carlsson gave the IceHogs the lead with 11:29 to go in the third when he danced through the Wolves and beat Sparks. Matthew Highmore then hit an empty net with 1:53 left, and Tyler Sikura followed with 34.6 remaining to seal the Wolves’ fourth loss in five following a five-game winning streak.
“You look at our winning streak, you credit a lot of that to (Sparks),” Thompson said. “He was a rock in there again today.”
