LOVELAND, CO – Daemon Hunt was one of five players to score goals and Jesper Wallstedt stopped 40 shots as the Iowa Wild dominated the Colorado Eagles on Friday, 5-1. Hunt had a goal and two assists to lead all scores and Wallstedt earned his seventh victory of the year.

The Wild scored the only goal of the first period when Jujhar Khaira netted his fourth tally of the season. At 4:33 and with Iowa on the power-play, Hunt sent the puck down the boards inside the Colorado zone. Joël Teasdale gained control, firing a shot that Khaira tipped past Eagles netminder Arvid Holm to give his team a one goal advantage.

Iowa held onto the 1-0 lead through the first intermission and used another power-play goal to extend the lead to two 14:16 into the second. This time Teasdale would get the goal. Adam Beckman passed the puck from the point to Teasdale who was directly behind the net. He stepped out in front, chipping a shot by Holm for his first goal of the season.

Iowa had been badly outshot through the first two periods (28-17), but held the two-goal advantage extending it to three when Hunt scored his first goal of the season 3:40 into the second. Steven Fogarty gained control of the puck inside the Eagles end, passing it back to the blueline to Hunt. He blasted a shot that found its way through traffic to beat Holm, making it 3-0.

Colorado was down, but finally got on the scoreboard at 11:48 when they used the man advantage to cut the deficit to two. Spencer Smallman fed Riley Tufte, who blew a one-timer by Wallstedt for his 10th goal of the season.

Colorado appeared to be back in the contest, but Sammy Walker dashed their hopes 14 seconds later when he scored his first goal of the season. Nic Petan won the draw inside the Colorado zone, pushing it to Ryan O’Rourke. He sped behind the net, looking for the wraparound attempt. Holm was able to make the save, but Walker pushed in the rebound to make it 4-1.

The Eagles were down and the coaching staff opted to take some chances, pulling the goaltender with a little over five minutes left in the contest. However, the plan failed when Petan intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, then fired the puck into the empty net for his second goal of the season. That made it 5-1, which would be the final.

Petan and Teasdale each finished with a goal and an assist. Wallstedt snapped a two-game losing streak, and has allowed three or fewer goals in seven straight games, including two or fewer in six of those contests.

These teams will square off again on Saturday. The puck drops at 8:05 Iowa time.

Gamesheet

by Robert Pannier