LUCCHINI NETS TWO, NOVAK SCORES FIRST AHL GOAL IN IOWA’S 4-2 WIN AT ROCKFORD
Nov 10, 2023
ROCKFORD, Ill. – Jake Lucchini scored twice for the Iowa Wild on Friday night at Rockford and Pavel Novak picked up his first American Hockey League goal in a 4-2 victory over the IceHogs. Jesper Wallstedt made 35 saves to earn his third consecutive win.
Iowa took a 1-0 lead at 18:17 of the first period. After Lucchini dropped a pass for Adam Beckman on the rush, Beckman collected his own blocked shot and snapped the puck on Drew Commesso (22 saves). Lucchini dove into the crease and poked the puck home for his team-leading fifth goal of the season. Kyle Masters also earned an assist on the goal.
The Wild carried the one-goal advantage into the first intermission and outshot Rockford 10-8 through the first 20 minutes of play.
Novak doubled Iowa’s lead just under three minutes into the middle frame. Joël Teasdale broke up an IceHogs rush and flipped a pass through the center of the ice that Mike O’Leary batted toward the right wing. Novak picked up the loose puck and wired a wrist shot under the blocker of Commesso at 2:58.
Lucchini found the back of the net again at 11:29. Greg Meireles forced a turnover deep in the Rockford zone and found Lucchini on the back post to make the score 3-0 in favor of Iowa.
Brett Seney pulled the IceHogs back within two goals at 14:42 of the second with a power-play goal from the low slot.
Jujhar Khaira restored Iowa’s three-goal advantage heading into the second intermission. Sammy Walker dropped a pass for Carson Lambos along the far wall and Lambos whipped a shot on goal that handcuffed Commesso. Khaira muscled the puck home at the 17:30 mark to hand Iowa the 4-1 lead.
The two teams entered the second intermission with 19 shots apiece.
Mike Hardman narrowed Rockford’s deficit to 4-2 at 4:45 of the third when he finished a bouncing puck over Wallstedt, but the Wild held the IceHogs at bay for the remainder of the final frame.
Rockford outshot Iowa 37-26. The Wild went 0-for-3 on the power play while the IceHogs were 1-for-3 on the man advantage.
Iowa heads to Allstate Arena to take on the Chicago Wolves on Saturday at 7 p.m.
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 2023-24 are on sale now. Fans can purchase season tickets for the upcoming season at https://www.iowawild.com/wild-365.
Visit http://www.iowawild.com/pressbox for the latest news and information from the team including press releases, game notes, multimedia content, and daily statistics.