Rookie goaltender Beck Warm rejected 31 shots to earn his first professional shutout as the Chicago Wolves rolled to a 4-0 victory over the Iowa Wild on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
Forwards Dominik Bokk, Tanner Jeannot, Tommy Novak and Sheldon Rempal scored for the Wolves (9-2-0-1), who registered their first shutout of the season and maintained their lead in the American Hockey League’s Central Division.
The Wolves broke on top at 3:11 of the second when Bokk buried a wrister from the left circle. Chicago defensemen Cavan Fitzgerald and Max Lajoie inspired an extended stay in the offensive zone, then Lajoie spied Bokk unattended below the faceoff dot to step up the Germany native’s second goal of the year.
Chicago extended the margin to 2-0 at 16:28 of the second with a perfectly conducted power play that needed just 10 seconds to click. Novak won the faceoff in the left circle, then the puck worked its way from Bokk to Phil Tomasino to David Warsofsky to Novak in the right circle. Novak fired a shot that Jeannot, standing just outside the crease, redirected past Iowa’s Hunter Jones for the goal.
The Wolves seized a 3-0 lead early in the third as the power-play unit needed just seven seconds to strike. Novak won another faceoff in the left circle, then the puck moved from Bokk to Warsofsky to Rempal — who found Novak via Bokk in the left circle for a blast past Jones.
Rempal delivered the biggest highlight of the night when he left the penalty box, accepted a pass from Jeannot, deked an Iowa defenseman out of his skates and flipped a backhand past Jones for a 4-0 lead at the 10:19 mark of the third.
Warm improved his record to 5-1-0 while Jones (0-4-1) posted 34 saves for the Wild (3-6-2-0).
The Wolves stay in Des Moines to face the Wild at 3 p.m. Sunday as their four-game road trip continues. Chicago’s next home game is slated for Saturday, March 27, against the Rockford IceHogs.