INDEPENDENCE, Mo. – With both Trevin Kozlowski and Hunter Jones up with the Iowa Wild, Jack Berry made his first start of the season and he was very good, stopping 17 of 20 shots, but Friday night belonged to Daniil Chechelev, who made 27 saves in leading the Kansas City Mavericks past the Iowa Heartlanders, 3-1. Lane Scheidl had two assists for the Mavericks, who moved into a fifth-place tie with the Wichita Thunder with the victory.

Both teams seemed resolved to a methodical, slow-paced game in the first period, as the Heartlanders outshot the Mavericks, 9-5 through the first 20 minutes. That did not mean that the goaltenders did not face tough chances. Berry made a great save on a breakaway opportunity for Scheidl at 16:11 of the period.

In the second, Riese Zmolek gave his team the lead just 22 seconds into the frame. With Iowa on a power play, Zach White fed the puck to Zmolek in the slot. He fired a wrist shot that beat Chechelov low for his first goal of the season. The goal was also the fastest to start a period in franchise history.

The lead held for seven minutes before defenseman Theo Calvas tied the score. He intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, then moved into the Iowa end. He used the Heartlanders defenseman as a partial shield before firing a wrist shot that beat Berry for his second goal of the year.

The scored remained tied through the second intermission, but the Mavericks scored two goals in the third period to take a 3-1 lead. The first goal came at 6:17. It was a great individual effort by Marcus Crawford that created the goal. Scheidl passed the puck to Crawford just before he entered the Heartlanders end. He split between two defensemen, then fended off one who was draped all over him before pushing a wrist shot over the glove of Berry for his third goal of the year.

With 4:22 left in regulation, Kansas City was on the power play when Darik Angeli passed the puck through the neutral zone to Scheidl, just before he entered the Iowa end. Scheidl moved down the boards, then made a perfect feed into the slot where Ben Johnson redirected the puck over the shoulder of Berry for his second goal of the year. That made it 3-1, which was the final.

The Heartlanders outshot the Mavericks, 28-20 but could get only the one goal past Chechelev, who improved to 5-4-1. Berry was solid in his Heartlanders debut despite taking the loss.

These two teams will square off again on Saturday. The puck drops at 7:05.