2
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Iowa
5
Playing their sixth game in eight days, the Chicago Wolves suffered a 5-2 loss to the Iowa Wild on Saturday night at the Wolves Training Facility.
Forwards Dominik Bokk and David Gust scored for the Central Division-leading Wolves (18-6-1-2), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end. Iowa outshot Chicago 48-27 on the night while the teams combined for 102 penalty minutes.
“I think we’ll have some interesting games against these guys next year,” said Wolves head coach Ryan Warsofsky. “Tonight wasn’t great. We didn’t have the gas. But I think our younger kids got experience from it. Maybe that’s something we can take a positive out of.”
Iowa (13-12-4-0) opened the scoring just 30 seconds after puck drop as the Wolves committed a turnover in their own zone and Wild forward Will Bitten swatted home a rebound.
The Wolves took advantage of their first power play to pull even at 16:05. David Warsofsky rushed the puck into the neutral zone and fed Bokk with some momentum across the blue line. Bokk dragged the puck around an Iowa defenseman before beating goaltender Robbie Beydoun with a high backhand.
Iowa regained the lead a minute later on Mitch McLain’s goal. After the Wild won a faceoff, Nick Swaney flung a waist-high shot toward the net and McLain redirected it past Connor Ingram for a 2-1 edge at 17:23.
The Wild pushed their advantage to 3-1 on rookie Matt Boldy’s goal at 5:25 of the second. Iowa enjoyed a 4-on-1 rush that the Wolves slowed, but Boldy displayed some nifty stick-handling just outside of the crease and sneaked the puck home.
The Wolves slashed the deficit to 3-2 on Gust’s first goal with the Wolves. Cole Smith led a 4-on-2 rush and dropped a pass back to rookie defenseman Marc Del Gaizo, who fired a shot that ricocheted to the other side of the net. Gust corralled the rebound and knocked it home as Del Gaizo earned his first pro point on the play.
Iowa retaliated with goals by crashing the crease for goals by Jarrett Burton and Brandon Duhaime for a 5-2 lead through two periods.
Beydoun (1-0-0) made 25 saves in his AHL debut to earn the win while Ingram (1-3-1) stopped 35 shots before suffering an injury midway through the third period. Beck Warm posted 8 saves the rest of the way.
The Wolves travel to Grand Rapids at 6 p.m. Friday before hosting the Griffins at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 8. All Wolves games are streamed on AHLTV.com.
