The Iowa Wild kept rolling Sunday night, beating the Rockford IceHogs 5-2 at BMO Center for their third straight win. Dylan Gambrell, Rieger Lorenz and Charlie Stramel each finished with multi-point nights, and William Rousseau backed it up with 19 saves to pick up the victory.
Iowa set the tone early when Arthur Kaliyev scored his first goal in a Wild sweater 9:45 into the game. The play started with Gambrell springing Justin Kirkland through the neutral zone, and Kirkland then fed Kaliyev for a wrister over Stanislav Berezhnoy.
Rockford answered in the second period, with Kevin Lombardi tying things up 6:35 into the middle frame.
The Wild didn’t stay level for long. At 15:33 of the second, Lorenz turned a turnover by Berezhnoy into an unassisted shorthanded goal, putting Iowa back in front.
That lead grew early in the third when Stramel and Gambrell helped set up Riley Heidt for a one-timer between the hashmarks just 1:50 into the period. Rockford made it interesting later, as Landon Slaggert tucked a shorthanded breakaway under Rousseau with 9:12 left to cut the margin to 3-2.
But Iowa answered again at 16:10. Lorenz sent a pass in front, Gerry Mayhew got a shot on goal, and Stramel buried the rebound to restore the two-goal cushion.
Gambrell finished it off with an empty-net goal at 1:47 remaining, with Mason Shaw and Carson Lambos collecting the assists.
The Wild outshot Rockford 33-21, and both teams went 0-for-4 on the power play.
Iowa now wraps up its three-game road trip against the Milwaukee Admirals at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 10:30 a.m.
In Other News...
Wild Waste Big Night From Maxim Shabanov In Painful Collapse
Maxim Shabanov gave the Wild a night worth remembering for most of regulation, scoring twice as Minnesota kept its point streak alive and looked positioned to leave Tampa Bay with another strong result. The rookies breakout performance fit the kind of depth scoring that has helped keep Minnesota rolling, and for a long stretch it appeared the Wild had done enough to turn his big night into a road win.
Instead, the finish turned cruel. Tampa Bay erased the cushion late in the third period and forced overtime before Nikita Kucherov ended it on the power play for a 4-3 Lightning victory, with Jake Guentzel driving the comeback with two goals and an assist. For Minnesota, the point streak reached eight games, but the collapse left Shabanovs effort feeling like a footnote instead of the headline. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa Wild Have Some Intriguing Names Trending Up On This Road Trip
The Iowa Wild kept their road trip moving in the right direction with a 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Admirals at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, a result that offered a little bit of everything for Minnesotas development pipeline. Riley Mercer handled the crease well, turning aside 28 shots, while Dylan Gambrell and Justin Kirkland each chipped in multi-point nights as Iowa found enough offense to control the game after settling in.
The scoring came in a timely way, with three goals overall and two of them arriving in the second period to swing the momentum. For a club trying to sort out which names are starting to trend up, this was the kind of performance that stands out on a road trip, and it leaves Iowa heading into its next matchup against the Rockford IceHogs with a little more intrigue around several players worth watching. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Suddenly Have An Even Bigger Reason For Optimism
The win over San Jose gave Minnesota a milestone night at Grand Casino Arena, where the Wild picked up their 1000th regular-season victory with a 4-1 result and got another big offensive push from Kirill Kaprizov. He finished with four points, including his NHL-leading 16th goal, while Quinn Hughes added three points in a game that kept the building buzzing and reinforced how dangerous this group can be when its top end is rolling.
Brock Fabers progress only adds to the sense that the Wild may be getting a boost beyond the scoreboard. After the fractured skull he suffered in a preseason game, the defenseman has returned to practice and is expected to travel with the team, even if his actual return to game action remains unsettled for now. For a club already stacking reasons to feel better about its trajectory, that kind of news matters just as much as another two points in the standings. [Read more 🡒]