SAN JOSE, CA – The Iowa Wild had no answers for San Jose Barracuda netminder Yaroslav Askarov on Saturday evening, as the team was blanked, 5-0. Askarov made 26 saves and Donavan Houle netted two goals for the Barracuda.

This was an exciting contest for the first 44 minutes of the game. After a scoreless first period, Houle finally put San Jose on the board 11:44 into the second frame.

Wild netminder Jesper Wallstedt was fantastic, stopping 29 through the first two periods, but Askarov proved to be a little bit better, stopping 17 shots through the first two frames.

Finally, in the third, San Jose was able to break this game open. Anthony Vincent scored at 4:10 to extend the lead to two. It was his second goal of the year.

The Barracuda then responded with two shorthanded goals. Houle netted his second goal of the night at 6:20 when he intercepted a pass and beat Wallstedt. A little over six minutes later Colin White added a shorthanded goal when he created a turnover inside the Iowa zone. Luca Cagnoni closed out the scoring with a power-play goal with 1:50 left in the contest.

Iowa dropped to 0-3-0 with the loss. They went 0-3 on the power-play.

The Wild remain in San Jose on Sunday. The teams square off at 5:00 Iowa time.

Gamesheet

by Robert Pannier