WILD CLIPPED BY GULLS IN 5-2 LOSS
Feb 15, 2020-Iowa sets franchise record with 13,503 fans in attendance-
Iowa Wild (32-15-3-3; 70 pts.) saw three streaks snapped Saturday night as the team fell to the San Diego Gulls (23-17-4-2; 52 pts.) by a score of 5-2 Saturday evening.
The Wild took an early 1-0 lead as forward Luke Johnson potted his 11th tally of the season at 11:01 in the first period. Johnson caught a pass from defenseman Josh Atkinson at the blueline and, using forward Kyle Rau as a screen, rifled a shot over the blocker of goaltender Kevin Boyle (29 saves) for the score.
San Diego scored their first goal of the series to tie the game at 1-1 at 18:02 in the first period while on a power play. Forward Daniel Sprong sent a pass to defenseman Chris Wideman and then blasted a one-timer on a return feed past goaltender Mat Robson (30 saves) for his 11th of the year.
Through 20 minutes of play, the score was tied 1-1 and San Diego led in shots 15-8.
The Gulls took a 2-1 lead at 17:19 in the second period as forward Isac Lundestrom netted his fourth tally of the season. Forward Chris Mueller dug a puck out of the corner and kicked into the slot. A one-touch pass from Wideman gave Lundestrom the puck with an open lane and he wristed a shot over Robson’s glove for the score.
Heading into the third period, Iowa trailed 2-1 with San Diego owning a 26-21 shot advantage.
San Diego turned its one-goal lead to a three-goal advantage as the team scored two goals in 25 seconds early in the third period. On the power play, forward Blake Pietila redirected a shot from Wideman that was stopped by Robson, but he knocked the puck through Robson’s five-hole and across the goal line to make it a 3-1 contest at 5:26 in the third period. The Gulls then followed that up with a tally from defenseman Simone Benoit at 5:51, where he one-timed a pass from forward Alex Broadhurst and beat Robson glove side.
At 17:11 in the third period, forward Dmitry Sokolov scored his first goal since Jan. 18 to cut San Diego’s lead to 4-2. Forward Brandon Duhaime took a shot that was saved by Boyle, but the puck was sitting behind the netminder. Sokolov grabbed the loose puck and tucked it home for the tally, with forward Connor Dewar earning the secondary assist.
The Gulls iced the game with an unassisted empty-net tally from forward Max Comtois at 18:49 in the final frame to clinch the 5-2 victory. With the loss, Iowa saw its eight-game winning streak, 10-game home winning streak and 11-game point streak all snapped.
Final shot totals favored San Diego 35-31. Iowa went 0-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Iowa embarks for a three-game road trip Wednesday evening, starting with a clash against the Central Division-leading Milwaukee Admirals. Puck drop is scheduled for 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.