DES MOINES, IA – The woes for the Iowa Wild continued on Saturday evening, as the club fell behind by four before falling to the San Diego Gulls, 7-4. Mason Shaw scored twice for Iowa, but had tricks by Nikita Nesterenko and Sasha Pastujov proved to be too much for the Wild.

San Diego took control of this game early, netting three goals in the first 18 minutes of the contest. Nesterenko got things going on the power-play at the 4:13 when he scored his eighth goal of the year. The play was set up perfectly by Pastujov, who found Nesterenko at the back door. His teammate was easily able to slide the puck past Zane McIntyre to make it 1-0.

Just past the 10 minute mark the lead became two. This time it was Nesterenko blasting a shot that McIntyre saved, but  no one cleared out Pavol Regenda. That allowed him to put in the rebound for his 14th tally of the season.

With 1:58 left in the first period, it was Pastujov getting on the scoreboard with his first goal of the year. Brayden Tracey passed the puck to Pastujov who beat McIntyre with a wrist shot to make it 3-0 heading to the first intermission.

The Wild were only outshot 9-6 in the first, but were being blown out and things got worse when Pastujov netted his second goal of the season 11:20 into the second. San Diego was on the power-play when Tracey passed the puck to Pastujov who once again beat McIntyre with a wrist shot over the glove.

The Wild were being dominated in every facet of this game, but were finally able to break through against Calle Clang when David Spacek scored his second goal of the season at the 14:40 mark of the second. Nic Petan set up the play when his shot was saved by Clang but Spacek battled through a defenseman, knocking in the rebound to make it 4-1.

Just 61 seconds later Carson Lambos cut the deficit to two. Lambos came off the goal line, sliding across the crease before tucking a backhander past the San Diego netminder for his third goal of the season.

Iowa was back in the game, but Pastujov dashed their hopes when he completed his hat trick with 2:43 left in the second period. Tyson Hinds got the opportunity started when he intercepted a clearing attempt, then passed it toward Pastujov who slipped the puck underneath McIntyre to make it 5-2.

The Gulls restored the four goal advantage 1:10 into the third when Nesterenko scored his second goal of the night. Anthony Costantini moved the puck to Nesterenko at the left face-off circle. He lifted a wrist shot that when just under the crossbar.

Once again, the Wild responded with two goals to cut the deficit back to two. At 5:13, Shaw passed the puck to Petan, who waited for his teammate to move down the slot. Petan that fed the puck back to Shaw, who beat Clang with his second goal of the season.

At the 12:12 point of the third period, Shaw scored his second goal of the night. It was San Diego back on the power-play, but Kevin Conley blocked a shot near his own blueline, then led a rush the opposite direction. As he moved in toward Clang, he slid the puck across the crease to Shaw who buried the shot to make it 6-4.

Iowa pulled McIntyre with a little over two minutes left in the game, but Nesterenko chipped in the empty net tally, completing the hat trick. That made it 7-4, which would be the final.

Petan had two assists for the Wild. McIntyre stopped 16 of 22 shots. Tracey had three assists for San Diego and both Nesterenko and Pastujov finished with four points.

The Iowa Wild (14-24-3) are off until Friday when they travel to Henderson to take on the Silver Knights (19-19-6) for two games. The puck drops at 5:00 Iowa time.

Gamesheet

by Robert Pannier