WILD OUSTS HEAT IN A 4-3 OVERTIME THRILLER
Dec 19, 2019-Iowa’s win features four lead changes-
Iowa Wild (14-11-2-2; 32 pts.) overcame a one-goal deficit and battled through two comeback attempts by the Stockton Heat (17-5-2-2; 38 pts.) to earn a 4-3 victory in overtime Wednesday night.
Early in the overtime period, Stockton had a partial breakaway that was broken up by forward Dmitry Sokolov. After stealing the puck, he sent a leading pass to forward Kyle Bauman, who chipped the puck to himself past the Stockton defender for a breakaway. Skating in on goaltender Artyom Zagidulin (33 saves), Bauman brought the puck to his backhand before flipping it into the top left corner of the net for his first goal in a Wild sweater and giving the Wild the 4-3 victory.
After a scoreless first period where shots were tied at 7-7, forward Luke Philp tallied the first goal of the contest at 11:11 in the second period to give Stockton a 1-0 lead. Philp received a cross-ice pass from forward Buddy Robinson and rocketed a shot past goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen (29 saves) from the left circle for the power-play tally, his 12th of the season.
Less than a minute later, Sokolov tied the game at 1-1, scoring his third goal of the season. Forward Brandon Duhaime circled behind the net before finding Sokolov in the high slot, where he wristed a shot under Zagidulin’s glove for the tally. Forward Sam Anas logged the secondary assist on the play.
Sokolov scored his second consecutive tally at 17:26 in the middle frame, giving the Wild the 2-1 lead. Fresh out of the penalty box, Sokolov caught a pass from forward Kyle Rau for a breakaway. All alone, he faked a shot before bringing the puck from his backhand to his forehand and buried it into the open net. With his assist, Rau extended his assist streak to four games and his point streak to six contests.
Heading into the third period, Iowa led 2-1 and held a 23-20 shot advantage.
The Heat knotted the game at 2-2 at 4:03 in the third period as Philp scored his second tally of the contest. Standing at the center of the blueline, Philp took a slap shot off a pass from defenseman Brandon Davidson, beating Kahkonen glove side for his fourth multi-goal game of the season.
Iowa regained the lead at 12:34 in the final stanza as Anas added an assist to his goal, making it a 3-2 contest. After getting a pass from forward Gerry Mayhew, Anas snapped a shot from the right circle that bounced off Zagidulin and into the net for his seventh of the year.
With 3.7 seconds left, the Heat once again tied the game as forward Justin Kirkland ripped a shot past Kahkonen, bringing the score to 3-3. Davidson knocked down a Wild clear just before the blueline and fed Kirkland on the left boards, who threw a shot on net that zoomed past Kahkonen’s glove. His goal sent the game to overtime, where Bauman proceeded to give the Wild its first win in team history at Stockton Arena.
Final shot totals were 37-32 favoring the Wild and Iowa finished the game 0-for-2 on the power-play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Sokolov finished Wednesday’s game with three points, the first triple-point outing of his career. Wednesday’s contest also marked the first time since Nov. 19 Kahkonen started a game in the AHL and it was his first win for Iowa since Nov. 16.
Iowa returns home to Wells Fargo Arena for a pair of games against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Friday’s contest is the Wild’s annual Teddy Bear Toss Game and Saturday is the first-ever Iowa Hockey Classic. Both games start at 7:00 p.m.
The Iowa Wild 2019-20 regular season is presented by MercyOne Des Moines 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.