The Des Moines Report: A Busy Week of Hockey

Previously on ‘The Des Moines Report’. It was a special weekend for the Wild as they hosted Local Heroes Night along with Pink in the Rink night. To make both night’s even better, the Wild would comeback in both games and come out victorious in overtime. On this edition, the Wild would play four times in a span of six days, including three in four nights. Let’s get to it.

Game 51: at Rockford
The Wild would kick off the week with a first of a back-to-back against the IceHogs. In the first period, the lone goal would come with just 1:24 left giving the Wild a 1-0 for the 33rd time this season which leads the American Hockey League. In the second, Cal O’Reilly would score just 21 seconds in after he found a loose puck in front. Just 1:30 later, J.T. Brown would extend the lead to 3-0 and all seemed right for the Wild. To make things even better, Gerald Mayhew would get right out of the box, and bury his 18th of the year making it 4-0 Wild. However, the Hogs would score late in the second, and then three times in the third to force things to overtime tied at 4. No scoring in the extra frame, but in the shoot-out, Iowa would go 0-for-3 while Rockford would get a goal in the 3rd round to give the Hogs a 5-4 victory. Kaapo Kahkonen would stop 31 of the 35 shots he faced however wasn’t good enough. On the power-play, the Wild would go 2-for-3 while the Wild would kill off four of the five Rockford man advantages.

Game 52: at Chicago
The next afternoon, the Wild would finish off the back-to-back by taking on the Chicago Wolves. In the first, the Wolves would get on the board first which would turn out to be the lone goal scored in the opening frame. In the second, the Wild would get yet another goal from J.T. Brown, his third since being recalled from Minnesota. That would be the only scoring until overtime when the Wolves would get a goal just 1:35 into overtime for the 2-1 victory over Iowa. The Wild would out-shoot the Wolves 32-13 yet could get past Max Lagace more than once. C.J. Motte turned away 11 of the 13 shots he faced on a slow night for Motte. On the power-play, the Wild went scoreless in two attempts, but the penalty-kill went four for four.

Coming Back

Game 53: vs Texas
The Wild would come back to Des Moines and begin a three-game home stand, first against the Texas Stars. And once again it would be a low scoring affair as the Stars would get on the board first with 26 seconds left in the first period. Kyle Rau would waste no time in coming back to Iowa as he would score 2:41 into the second period to tie the game up at 1. That would again by the last goal until overtime when the Stars would pick up the extra point with 1:18 left in the overtime session for the 2-1 Texas victory. The Wild’s only goal would come on the power-play, but yet went 1-for-5, while the penalty-kill killed off four of the five Stars man advantages.

Good Luck J.T.

Game 54: vs San Jose
The Wild’s three game home stand would continue in hopes of snapping the three game losing streak they are on. In the first, the Wild would strike first thanks to a beautiful pass from Kyle Rau to Mitch McLain to give the Wild an early 1-0 lead just passed the midway point of the period. However, that lead would only last 48 seconds as San Jose would tie things up at one after one period of play. Midway through the game, Michael Kapla would net his first in a Wild uniform to give the Wild yet another one goal lead. Once again, that lead wouldn’t last long as the Barracuda would tie things up. Back and forth we go, as Cal O’Reilly made it 3-2 shorthanded before San Jose would once tie things up right after. So we head to the third tied up at 3 a piece, and in the third Matt Read would be left alone back door for the winner with just 4:53 left in the 3rd. Kahkonen would stop 31 of the 34 shots he faced. Both teams would go 1-for-3 on the man advantage.

Looking Ahead:

The Wild are only in action once this upcoming week, but after Friday’s game against San Jose, Dropkick Murphy’s is having a post-game concert over at Wells Fargo. The Wild will look to build off their 4-3 victory last time out against the Barracuda.

Central Division Standings

Stat Leaders