Nov 20, 2022
ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Iowa Wild dominated the Chicago Wolves Sunday afternoon, taking home a 5-1 victory thanks to a three-goal outburst in the second period. Steven Fogarty, Mike O’Leary, and Ty Ronning each had a goal and an assist for Iowa. Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt turned aside 20 shots in the win.
The Wild opened the scoring at 3:24 of the first period. After Simon Johansson found Joe Hicketts at the right point, Hicketts blasted a shot that Fogarty redirected past Zachary Sawchenko (31 saves) to give Iowa a 1-0 lead.
Iowa got on the board again with a crisp passing play just as their opening power play expired. Nick Swaney received a centering feed from Ronning in the slot and tapped the puck to Mike O’Leary in front of Sawchenko. O’Leary stepped to his left and lifted the puck past Chicago’s netminder to double Iowa’s lead at 11:02 of the first period.
The Wild outshot Chicago 13-3 in the first period and carried a 2-0 lead into the break.
Iowa continued to dominate Chicago through the opening minutes of the second period. The Wild took the 3-0 lead at 11:07 when Sammy Walker scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season on a shot that barely crossed the goal line. Fogarty and Adam Beckman picked up assists on the play.
The Wild made it 4-0 just 1:14 later when O’Leary circled the back of the Chicago net and found Ronning in front for a tap-in goal.
Chicago finally answered at 15:17 of the second period when Vasily Ponomarev corralled his own rebound on the power play and beat Wallstedt to narrow the score to 4-1.
Iowa responded with 2:10 to play in the middle frame. After Michael Milne beat the Wolves defense down the wall, Mitchell Balmas followed up a rebound to score his first goal in a Wild uniform.
The Wild led 5-1 and outshot the Wolves 26-12 through 40 minutes.
Wallstedt closed out a scoreless third period with nine saves to take home his second win at Allstate Arena this season.
Iowa outshot Chicago 36-21. The Wild went 0-for-2 on the power play while the Wolves were 1-for-5 with the man advantage.
The Wild travel to take on the Colorado Eagles on Friday, Nov. 25 at 8:05 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…
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