Wallstedt Stymies Eagles for Second Straight Night, 3-2

LOVELAND, CO – For the second straight night, Iowa Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt was outstanding, stopping 43 shots to lead the Wild to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Eagles. The performance came a night after Wallstedt stopped 40 shots to lead Iowa to the win. Andy Welinski had a goal and an assist and Daemon Hunt had two assists to lead the offense.
Colorado got off to a great start when Ben Myers scored his fifth goal of the season 9:39 into the contest. Oskar Olausson passed the puck to Myers in the slot, who corralled it on his stick before tucking a backhand attempt inside the far post to make it 1-0.
Iowa responded with three unanswered goals, taking command of this contest. The first came at 12:02 when Welinski scored the first power-play goal of the night for the Wild. Adam Beckman led a rush inside the Eagles zone, finding Welinski who buried a shot past Trent Miner for his third goal of the season.
A little over two minutes later Joël Teasdale put his team on top with his second goal in as many nights. Iowa capitalized on the power-play once again, as Hunt found Teasdale near the goal line. He simply walked in front, lifting a wrist shot over the shoulder of Miner to make it 2-1.
Neither team was able to capitalize in the second, despite the fact that Colorado outshot Iowa, 16-8. The Eagles were dominating much of this contest, recording 33 overall shots through the first two periods, but Wallstedt was spectacular, stymieing Colorado on shot after shot.
The Wild clung to the one goal advantage, but extended it to two when Adam Raska netted his first goal of the season 2:50 into the third. Mike O’Leary won the draw inside the Colorado zone over to Raska, who blasted a one-timer for his first goal since joining Iowa.
The Eagles responded quickly, scoring a little over two minutes later to reduce the deficit to one. Ivan Ivan fired a shot that Wallstedt saved, but Keaton Middleton put in the rebound for his second goal of the year.
The Eagles continued to pressure, outshooting Iowa 12-7 in the third. However, Wallstedt stood strong, holding off a furious rush near the end of the contest. The Wild goaltender earned his eighth save of the season, stopping 43 shots. He has now allowed two or fewer goals in seven of his last eight starts.
The Iowa Wild (8-9-2) will return home on Tuesday night when they will welcome the Rockford IceHogs (9-6-2). The puck drops at 7:00.
by Robert Pannier