DES MOINES, Iowa — The Chicago Wolves and Iowa Wild put on an offensive display Thursday night as the Wolves outgunned 5-4 in a shootout at Wells Fargo Arena.
Chicago (3-3-0-1) received regulation goals from forwards Shane Harper and Keith Aucoin and defensemen David Shields and Brent Regner in the team’s first game against Iowa (4-1-0-0) and first shootout of the season. Aucoin, Harper, Shields, Sergey Andronov and Chris Porter posted multi-point games for the Wolves.
The action started early as Iowa began the scoring with a rebound off of a redirect by Tyler Graovac 5:14 into the game. The Wolves responded 44 seconds later as Harper beat screened Wild goaltender Johan Gustafsson, who stopped 19 of 23 shots before being replaced by Darcy Kuemper at 30:36 of the game. Kuemper (2-1-0) stopped all 21 shots he faced in regulation and three of six in the shootout for the win.
Shields briefly put the Wolves ahead at 7:46 of the first frame with a goal after pinching to corral a rebound, but the score was tied up again four minutes later on an Iowa goal from Raphael Bussieres that beat Jake Allen (3-1-1), who made 27 saves.
Chicago again saw a brief lead as Regner scored his first goal of the season on an elevated shot from the point that dribbled past Gustafsson, but the Wild and Brett Bulmer struck back 11 seconds later with a backhand goal.
This time Iowa went ahead, getting a tally on a tip-in from Kris Foucault off a wrist shot from the point. Aucoin notched a power-play goal to knot the score at four apiece at 10:36 of the second.
The score remained the same through overtime and into the shootout, when the Wolves took an early lead as Harper and Corey Locke scored on the team’s first two attempts. But Kuemper remained strong in net and the Wild scored on four of six shots to claim the win.
Chicago closes out October at home with a 7 p.m. game Saturday against Grand Rapids on Breast Cancer Awareness Night. The Wolves then host Peanut Awareness Day at 3 p.m. Sunday against Charlotte. For tickets, call 1-800-THE-WOLVES or visit ChicagoWolves.com.
WILD 5, WOLVES 4 (SO)
Chicago 2 2 0 0 0 — 4
Iowa 2 2 0 0 1 — 5
First Period—1, Iowa, Graovac 2 (Foucault, Cuma), 5:14; 2, Chicago, Harper 1 (Shields, Andronov), 5:58; 3, Chicago, Shields 2 (Aucoin, Porter), 7:46; 4, Iowa, Bussieres 1 (Phillips, Peters), 11:45. Penalties—Zucker, Iowa (tripping), 6:38; Regner, Chicago (high-sticking double minor), 7:09; Cuma, Iowa (holding the stick), 13:48; Graovac, Iowa (high-sticking), 15:59; Porter, Chicago (tripping), 17:18.
Second Period—5, Chicago, Regner 1 (Andronov, Harper), 2:28; 6, Iowa, Bulmer 3 (unassisted), 2:39; 7, Iowa, Foucault 2 (Blum, McMillan), 5:24; 8, Chicago, Aucoin 1 (Porter), 10:36 pp. Penalties—Bulmer, Iowa (interference), 7:37; Zucker, Iowa (interference), 9:53; Allen, Chicago (slashing), 12:44; McMillan, Iowa (high-sticking), 12:44.
Third Period—None. Penalties—Ponich, Chicago (hooking), 12:14; Peters, Iowa (tripping), 18:02.
Overtime—None. Penalties—None.
Shootout—Chicago 3 (Harper G, Locke G, Aucoin NG, Mancari G, Rattie NG, Andronov NG); Iowa 4 (Zucker NG, Haula G, Phillips G, Foucault NG, McMillan G, Matson G). Shots on goal—Chicago: 11-12-9-5-0—37; Iowa: 6-19-4-2-1—32. Power plays—Chicago 1-6; Iowa 0-3. Goalies—Chicago, Allen (27-31), Iowa, Gustafsson (19-23), replaced by Kuemper (21-21) at 30:36. A—4,318. Referees—David Banfield and Ryan Murphy. Linesmen—Nate Stanton and Chad Evers.
