SPRINGFIELD SWEEPS IOWA, TAKES 7-2 DECISION
Feb 1, 2025DES MOINES, Iowa – The Springfield Thunderbirds took a 7-2 win over the Iowa Wild at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday night. Travis Boyd and Luke Toporowski scored for Iowa in the loss.
Hugh McGing hammered a one-timer past Jesper Wallstedt (13 saves) on a 2-on-0 1:22 into the game to put Springfield up 1-0.
Sam Bitten wired a shot under the crossbar off the rush at 5:47 to double the lead.
Boyd answered with 2:05 remaining in the opening frame when he finished off a backdoor feed from Matthew Sop. Carson Lambos also earned an assist on Boyd’s goal.
Iowa outshot Springfield 16-11 in the first period.
McGing restored the two-goal advantage for the Thunderbirds 2:23 into the second period with a shot from the right circle.
Brendan Gaunce found Toporowski on the backdoor for a tap-in finish behind Vadim Zherenko (48 saves) at 7:26.
Nikita Alexandrov made the score 4-2 just 17 seconds later and Michael Buchinger added to Springfield’s lead at 8:49.
The Thunderbirds went up 6-2 at 17:21 when Matthew Peca put a shorthanded effort past Samuel Hlavaj (two saves), who replaced Wallstedt following a charging major to Dylan Peterson.
Iowa outshot Springfield 34-19 through 40 minutes of play.
Aleksanteri Kaskimaki capped the scoring for Springfield at 17:12 of the third period.
Iowa outshot Springfield 50-22. The Wild finished scoreless on three power plays and killed off one Thunderbirds man advantage.
Iowa visits the Manitoba Moose on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m.
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