IOWA FALLS TO MANITOBA 6-4 IN WILD SEASON OPENER
Oct 12, 2024DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Wild fell 6-4 to the Manitoba Moose in a back-and-forth affair in the 2024-25 season opener at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday night. Brendan Gaunce scored and added two assists for Iowa in the loss.
Ben King opened the scoring for the Moose at 4:45 of the first period with a shot that trickled through Samuel Hlavaj (21 saves) and across the goal line.
Gaunce tied the contest at 1-1 with a short-side finish off a centering feed from Travis Boyd at 12:52. Cameron Crotty also earned an assist on Gaunce’s goal.
Iowa outshot Manitoba 8-5 through the first 20 minutes.
Manitoba took a 3-1 advantage with a pair of goals from Dominic Toninato (7:23) and Elias Salomonsson (13:54) in the middle stages of the second period.
Reese Johnson pulled Iowa back within a goal with 4:49 remining in the middle frame with a wrister through the legs of Thomas Milic (24 saves). Carson Lambos and Gaunce assisted Johnson’s goal.
Parker Ford recorded a shorthanded, unassisted goal 37 seconds later, but the Wild stormed back to tie the game again before the break.
Boyd made the score 4-3 at 17:23 on a 5-on-3 when he followed up net mouth chances from Gaunce and Devin Shore and elevated the puck over Milic.
Michael Milne evened the game 53 seconds later with another power play marker when he received a pass from David Spacek along the left wall, flashed into the circle, and snapped a shot through Milic.
The Wild outshot the Moose 17-16 through two periods of play and entered the second intermission tied at 4-4.
Simon Lundmark gave Manitoba the lead for good at 11:07 of the third with a shot from the top of the right circle through traffic.
Nikita Chibrikov added an empty-net tally for the Moose with 50 seconds remaining.
Iowa outshot Manitoba 28-22. The Wild went 2-for-4 on the power play while the Moose were 1-for-2 with the man advantage.
Iowa and Manitoba finish off their weekend set on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 3 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena. The first 1,500 fans will receive shoe charms and a poster schedule presented by Capital Orthopaedics and KXnO. The Wild will also host a postgame skate presented by learntoskateiowa.com and STAR 102.5
Iowa Wild hockey is presented by Kwik Star. For more information on Iowa Wild hockey, please visit www.iowawild.com. Fans can purchase single-game tickets through the team’s website at www.iowawild.com. Group tickets (10 or more), suites, Wild 365 memberships or premium tickets can be purchased by contacting the Iowa Wild Ticket Department at 515-564-8700 or tickets@iowawild.com. Season tickets for 2024-25 are on sale now. Fans can purchase season tickets for the upcoming season at https://www.iowawild.com/wild-365.
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