Tonight, the Monsters and IceHogs faceoff for the fifth of this regular season’s six meetings.

When these two teams met at Quicken Loans Arena on March 5th, the IceHogs skated to a 3-2 victory.

Rockford built a 2-0 lead off Ben Smith’s goal at 3:25 of the first period and Rob Klinkhammer’s tally at 2:01 of the second.

The Monsters evened the score before the middle frame expired. Justin Mercier scored at 10:11 off an assist from Joel Chouinard, then David van der Gulik lit the lamp of helpers from Steve Oleksy and Greg Mauldin at 17:23.

Just 1:59 into the third period, Rockford tallied the eventual game-winner as Evan Brophey scored off assists from Mathis Olimb and Garnet Exelby.

Jason Bacashihua stopped 26 of 29 shots faced in the win, while Hannu Toivonen kicked aside 36 of 38.

Pig Tales

Rockford is the only team the Monsters have lost to in the Month of March.

The ‘Hogs enter tonight’s game on the strength of a convincing four-game winning streak. Their victories have come against highly-rated teams, as they’ve beat the Chicago Wolves (3-2 on March 27th), Milwaukee Admirals (3-2 OT on March 26th), Hamilton Bulldogs (4-3 OT on March 25th) and San Antonio Rampage (5-1 on March 23rd) in their current run.

Rockford’s recent victories have brought their club to the .500 mark, as they now hold an overall record of 32-32-4-5.

The IceHogs are 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 games.

Well-Oiled Machine

Lake Erie enters tonight’s contest on a franchise-high eight-game winning streak.

The Monsters have won 24 of their last 31 games (24-6-0-1) and 16 of their last 19 (16-3-0-0) outings.

Q Tips

The Monsters are 22-9-2-3 at The Q this season, while they’ve won eight of their last nine games (8-1-0-0) in friendly confines.

Prior to their 3-2 setback against Rockford on March 5th, the Monsters had not lost on home ice since February 5th.

Top (of the) Line

Lake Erie’s top line of center Ben Walter, who skates between wingers David van der Gulik and Greg Mauldin, has generated much of the offense in the team’s current streak.

Walter is on an eight-game point streak (2G, 12A) and a franchise-high eight-game assist streak, while he has posted at least a point in 16 of his last 17 games (4G, 22A).

Van der Gulik also rides an eight-game point streak (4G, 9A) into tonight’s contest.

Mauldin has totaled four points (2G, 2A) in his last two games.

Broadcaster Ben Holden previews this evening's matchup: