Henderson Silver Knights Defeat Iowa Wild, 7-3
On what was billed as Octoberfest night at Wells Fargo Arena, the Henderson Silver Knights had a three goal blitzkrieg in the first four plus minutes of the game. The Wild could never climb back and Henderson took home a 7-3 win.
The Silver Knights wasted no time getting on the board as their forecheck hemmed the Wild in their own zone. A point shot from Grigori Denisenko was tipped in front by Byron Froese beating Zane McIntyre five hole just 39 seconds into the game.
It didn’t take long for the Silver Knights to strike again as Mason Morelli fed Adam Cracknell for a tap in on a two on one in deep in the Wild zone. Jakub Brabanec gained the secondary assist on the goal two minutes, 14 seconds into the game.
The Silver Knights tallied once again at the 4:20 mark as McIntyre could not stone Brendan Brisson on a shot from the faceoff circle. Assists on the play went to Tyler Benson and Gage Quinney. The Brisson goal was on the fourth shot of the game from Henderson.
Iowa struck back at the 9:12 mark as Greg Meireles directed a Nic Petan pass on a two-on-one past Jiri Patera. It was the first goal as a member of the Wild for Meireles who had spent the last two seasons with the Manitoba Moose where he scored 14 times in 111 games. The goal seemed to spark the Wild as they carried play in the Silver Knights zone for several minutes following the goal, outshooting the Silver Knights 10-9 for the period.
The Wild drew to within a goal at the 3:11 mark of the second period as a Simon Johansson shot from the point found the back of the net. Adam Beckman and Jake Lucchini earned the assist as their work along the boards, cycling the puck back to Johansson.
The Silver Knights got the two-goal lead back on the power play at the 5:43 mark of the second period. Zach Benson converted after Sheldon Rempal was able to find Benson alone in front of McIntyre, the shot just eluding the Wild goalie.
12:08 into the second the Silver Knights tallied again. A shot from the point by Christoffer Sedoff was redirected by by Rempal. The goal coming a couple of minutes after a power play that saw the Wild hit a post that would’ve made it a 4-3 game.
With two minutes left, Grigori Denisenko pinched in from the point to finish off a great series of passes. Quinny and Brisson got the helpers on the sixth Silver Knights goal of the game.
However, Iowa got a goal back at the end of the second period as a Ryan O’Rourke point shot found the net after a faceoff win by the Wild. Carson Lambos picks up the only assist on the O’Rourke goal. The goal is O’Rourke’s first AHL goal since March 27, 2021 versus Grand Rapids. Iowa outshot the Silver Knights 13-4 for the second period, but three of Henderson’s shots hit paydirt.
Wild coach Brett McLean opted to pull McIntyre when the Wild went on the power play with 6:39 remaining in the game. It did not help as the Wild could not cash in on their fourth power play of the game. McIntyre was pulled once again for an extra attacker with 4:11 remaining in the game. That too did not pay off and the Silver Knights cashed in as Rempal scored his second goal of the night with an assist from Denisenko and Jakub Demak.
Patera picked up the win stopping 31 of 34 shots including all 11 shots in the third period. McIntyre took the loss with nine saves on fifteen Silver Knights shots. Five of the goals given up by McIntyre were either tip ins, or shots from below the face off circles.
Three Stars of the Game
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- Sheldon Rempal – Henderson. Rempal scored a pair of goals and added an assist to go along with a plus three rating for the night. Rempal ended with three goals and two assists for the weekend.
- Tyler Benson – Henderson. Benson scored a goal and added an assist for the Silver Knights.
- Byron Froese – Henderson. Froese scored the first goal of the game for the Silver Knights and later added an assist.
Notes:
After scoring 34 goals in 116 games for Iowa from 2021-2023, Minnesota Wild first round draft pick from 2020, Marco Rossi scored his first NHL goal on Saturday night in Toronto. Rossi almost had his first goal two nights ago, but it was called back after an offsides review call went against Minnesota.
Tonight’s game emphasized the growing pains the Wild blueline will be dealing with this season. Ryan O’Rourke (102 AHL games), Brendan Miller (77 AHL games) and Simon Johansson (66 AHL games) were the most experienced blue liners in the Wild lineup on Saturday night. Considering it was a football Saturday in Iowa, 5,315 fans attended Saturday to go along with 8,711 on Friday night for the Home Opener.
By Kevin Luckow