IOWA COMPLETES COMEBACK IN 3-2 VICTORY AGAINST COLORADO
Dec 1, 2018-The Wild’s nine-game road point streak ties a franchise record-
After falling into a 2-0 hole, Iowa Wild (13-4-3-2; 31 pts.) roared back to stun the Colorado Eagles (10-7-3-1; 24 pts.) by a score of 3-2 in the shootout. With the win, Iowa regained first place in the Central Division and tied a franchise long nine-game road point streak.
Iowa started the comeback with a breakaway tally from forward Luke Kunin at 9:45 in the second period. After successfully killing a 5-on-3, Kunin hopped off the bench and snuck behind the Colorado defense and received a pass from forward Cal O’Reilly for the breakaway. Skating along the left wing, Kunin cut into the slot before roofing the puck on goaltender Pavel Francouz (34 saves) for his sixth of the season. O’Reilly’s assist was his 18th of the season, giving him the second-most helpers in the AHL.
The Wild then tied the game at 2-2 at 14:51 in the third period when forward Dmitry Sokolov sniped Francouz from the right circle. Sokolov picked up a loose puck in the left corner and skated around the net up toward the right point. At the far right hashmarks, Sokolov turned and rifled the puck top shelf, beating Francouz glove side for his fifth of the season. Earning assists on the play was defensemen Matt Bartkowski and Gustav Bouramman, his first of the year.
With the two sides tied at 2-2, the game went into overtime, the fourth consecutive contest for Colorado and the sixth in the last seven for Iowa needing more than 60 minutes.
Despite forward Justin Kloos hitting multiple posts in the overtime period, neither side found the back of the net, forcing a shootout.
In the shootout, goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (24 saves) stopped all four Colorado attempts while Kloos scored the lone tally for Iowa, giving the visitors the 3-2 victory.
Colorado opened up the scoring at 8:07 in the first period on a tally from forward Ty Lewis. Standing at the back post as an Iowa penalty expired, Lewis received a pass from defenseman Igor Shvyrev and chipped the puck past Kahkonen for his fifth goal of the season. Defenseman Mason Geertsen recorded his sixth assist of the 2018-19 campaign on the play.
The Eagles gave themselves a 2-0 lead thanks to a shorthanded goal from forward A.J. Greer. Greer forced a turnover from Sokolov at the defensive blueline and outraced him for the loose puck. Going in on Kahkonen alone, Greer went forehand-backhand and buried his chance for his eighth goal of the season.
Shot totals favored Iowa 36-26 at the end of the game. Iowa went 0-for-5 on the power play but was a perfect 7-for-7 on the penalty kill, including two separate 5-on-3s. With the victory, Iowa extended its point streak to nine games both overall and on the road, going 5-0-2-2 during that stretch. The Wild is also 5-1-1-1 in the second game
The Iowa Wild 2018-19 season is presented by Mercy Medical Center and runs from October through April. For more information, please contact the Wild office by calling 515-564-8700 or by visiting www.iowawild.com.