The Des Moines Report: A Three-In-Three Sees the Wild Back On Track

Previously on ‘The Des Moines Report’. The Wild’s slump continued as they have now lost five of their last six including losing two out of three against the San Jose Barracuda. On this edition, the Wild would have their hands full continuing their West Coast road trip with three games in three nights against Bakersfield, then back-to-back against Ontario. Let’s get to it.

Game 57: @ Bakersfield

The Wild would begin the three-in-three stretch by winning against the Condors in unusual fashion. A 1-0 victory with a goal scored by Dmitry Sokolov ten minutes into the first period. Andrew Hammond stopped all 30 shots he faced for the shut-out. That goal, would be the lone power-play goal the Wild scored in four opportunities while the penalty kill went five for five when the Condors had the power-play.

Game 58: @ Ontario

Game two of the three-in-three, and first of a back-to-back against the Ontario Reign would be vastly different than the last time the Wild was in action. The Wild would gain a 2-0 lead right out of the gates after two goals from Kyle Rau and Mason Shaw. In the second, the Reign would pull within one but Iowa held a 2-1 lead going to the third period. Rau would net back to back goals for the hat trick and a 4-1 Wild lead, but things would go sideways quickly. Ontario would score three times in 2:55 to force the game to overtime, and just 33 seconds into the extra frame, Ontario would get the extra point for the 5-4 victory over Iowa. Kaapo Kahkonen would stop 49 of the 54 shots the Reign threw his way in the losing effort. On the special teams side of things, Iowa would go 2-for-4 on the man advantage while Ontario went 4-for-6.

Game 59: @ Ontario

The Wild would conclude the West Coast swing with the finale of a three-in-three and back-to-back against Ontario hoping to end it on good terms. The Wild would find themselves down a goal just three minutes in, but two late goals by Gerald Mayhew and Sam Anas giving Iowa a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. Sokolov would make it 3-1 Wild before three straight Reign goals would see the Wild trailing just ten minutes into the second period. However, Cal O’Reilly would the game up at 4 before Anas would score with 48 seconds left in the period to give the Wild a 5-4 lead going to the final frame. In the third, no goals would be scored as the Wild would pick up the 5-4 victory leaving sunny California on a good note. Brennan Menell would pick up an assist on all five Wild goals. Hammond would be between the pipes on the final game picking up 33 saves on the 37 shots he faced. On the power-play the Wild dominated going 4-for-6 while the penalty was 100% killing off all three Ontario man advantages.

Looking Ahead

The Wild came home for a brief break before heading back out on the road against Grand Rapids Friday night and Chicago on Saturday. The Wild will come back home however Tuesday night against San Antonio wrapping up the week.

Central Division Standings

Stat Leaders