IOWA RALLIES, FALLS IN SHOOTOUT TO TEXAS
Oct 22, 2022
DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Wild fought back to force overtime Saturday thanks to a late goal from Adam Beckman, but the Texas Stars took the extra point in a shootout. Tanner Kero provided the only goal for the Stars in the shootout. Iowa fell to 0-2-0-2 while Texas improved to 3-1-0-0.
Iowa jumped out to an early lead with help from Damien Giroux and Nick Swaney. Just over a minute into the first period, Giroux wheeled along the outside of the Texas zone and threw a puck toward Anton Khudobin (26 saves) from distance. The loose puck kicked right to Swaney, who flipped a backhander by Khudobin to give Iowa the 1-0 lead just 50 seconds into the game.
The Wild continued an early shot barrage and wasted little time in doubling their lead. With 13:25 remaining in the first period, Simon Johansson found a streaking Sammy Walker at the far blue line, who walked in all alone and snapped a shot past Khudobin’s glove hand to make the score 2-0.
Ben Gleason pulled the Stars back within one just under three minutes later. With a delayed penalty to Iowa upcoming, Texas took advantage of the opportunity to pull their goaltender in favor of the extra man. Gleason received a feed from Fredrik Olofsson above the hash marks and beat Jesper Wallstedt (22 saves) with a shot that banked in off the post at 9:23 of the first period.
Iowa held a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission while Texas led the shot count 11-10.
The Stars tallied the only goal of the second period 18:29 into the middle frame. With Texas on the power play, Matěj Blümel continued his hot start to the season with a one-time blast over Wallstedt to tie the score at 2-2. The goal was Blümel’s fifth of the season in four games.
The teams entered the second intermission tied at 2-2. Iowa had three shots in the second period for a two period total of 13. Texas added six to reach 17 shots through 40 minutes of play.
Texas took the lead just 46 seconds into the third period. Blümel found Riley Barber with a cross-ice pass and Barber beat Wallstedt under the crossbar from the bottom of the circle to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Stars.
Iowa nearly tied the contest with just under nine minutes to play. Andrej Šustr ripped a shot through traffic from distance, but his effort found the crossbar and stayed out.
The Wild finally broke through in the final minute with Wallstedt pulled for an extra man. Beckman followed up the rebound of a Šustr shot and punched home his first goal of the season to tie the game at 3-3 with just 54 seconds to play.
The overtime stanza was all Iowa, but the Wild were unable to convert on two power play opportunities which sent the game to a shootout.
After Khudobin stopped all three Iowa shooters, Kero snapped a shot past Wallstedt in the bottom of the shootout’s third round to secure the win for Texas.
Iowa outshot Texas 29-26. The Wild were 0-for-7 on the power play while the Stars went 1-for-3.
Iowa’s next game will come on the road versus Manitoba on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 2 p.m.
Iowa Wild hockey is presented by MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center. For more information, 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. The 2022-23 season marks the 10th anniversary of Iowa Wild hockey. Fans can purchase season tickets for the 10th anniversary season at https://www.iowawild.com/wild-365.
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