IOWA WILD ELIMINATED FROM CALDER CUP PLAYOFFS IN 4-3 OVERTIME LOSS
Apr 21, 2023DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Wild fought back from a third period deficit Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena to take the lead, but the Rockford IceHogs tied the game and took a 4-3 win in overtime. Rockford’s win gave the IceHogs a 2-0 series win and eliminated Iowa from the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Damien Giroux scored first for Iowa 5:49 into the game. Giroux screened Arvid Soderblom (33 saves) and dove to swat the rebound of a Daemon Hunt shot over the goaltender’s left pad. Patrick Curry picked up a secondary assist on the play.
Isaak Phillips tied the game at 1-1 with 2:33 to play in the first period with a power-play goal. Phillips collected a pass from Michal Teply at the top of the left circle and wired a wrister past the glove of Jesper Wallstedt (26 saves).
The contest remained tied at 1-1 through 20 minutes. Iowa led the shot count 13-10 at the first intermission.
David Gust handed Rockford a 2-1 advantage with 3:50 remaining in the middle frame when he went end-to-end and tucked the puck around the left pad of Wallstedt on his forehand.
Rockford maintained the 2-1 lead and a 22-20 shot advantage through 40 minutes.
Marco Rossi knotted the contest back up just 20 seconds into the third period. With the Wild on the power play, the puck squirted loose to Rossi in the high slot, where he whipped a shot past the blocker of Soderblom.
Rossi’s line struck again at 5:53 of the third. Rossi broke through the Rockford defense and jammed a puck in on Soderblom. The rebound sat at the top of the crease for Adam Beckman to knife in and give Iowa a 3-2 lead. Sammy Walker earned an assist on the goal.
Teply tapped in a bouncing puck on the back post with 10:26 to play to even the score at 3-3.
Wallstedt came up with several spectacular saves in the third, but the Wild could not capitalize on a late power play and the teams headed to overtime.
Buddy Robinson scored from the top of the crease at 2:05 of overtime.
Rockford outshot Iowa 37-29. The Wild were 1-for-3 on the power play while the IceHogs went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
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