DES MOINES, Iowa – For 40 minutes on Wednesday evening, the Manitoba Moose were bull-rushing the Iowa Wild, holding a 3-1 lead entering the final frame. However, Mason Shaw scored two goals in the final period, completing the hat trick to lead the Wild to a 4-3 come from behind victory. The three-goal performance was the first for Shaw in his professional career.
Neither team scored in the first 15 minutes of the contest, but Manitoba began to get the better of the play as the frame moved along. That helped the club grab a 1-0 lead at the 15:07 mark. Simon Lundmark put a shot on net that Matt Alfaro deflected past Zane McIntyre for his first goal of the season.
The Wild looked like they would enter the first intermission trailing by a goal, but Jimmy Oligny scored with seven seconds left in the frame to extend the Moose lead to two. With Manitoba putting the pressure on, Greg Meireles passed the puck to Oligny at the left faceoff circle, who blasted a one-timer by McIntyre for his third goal of the year.
Milwaukee held the team off the scoreboard in Monday’s contest, and it was beginning to feel like they would be blanked in this contest as well. Iowa continued to struggle offensively for the first 16 minutes of the second period, until Shaw snapped the scoreless drought at 16:44, potting the rebound of a Dakota Mermis shot to get Iowa on the board.
The Wild were back in the contest, but Manitoba added another late tally, scoring 33 seconds before the second intermission. Once again, a solid forecheck by the Moose created the chance, as Haralds Egle collected a rebound and put it in for his third goal of the year.
Trailing by a pair of goals, the Wild dominated the final frame, pressuring Manitoba into making mistakes. That helped the team score three unanswered goals in the final frame to come away with a victory.
Just before the five-minute mark, Shaw collected his second goal of the game, scoring on the power-play. Kyle Rau made a perfect pass to Shaw at the back door, who redirected the puck past Cormier to make it 3-2.
At the 6:37 mark, Rau scored his 10th goal of the year, tying the game at three. This time, Shaw was beginning the play, passing the puck to Marco Rossi at the right faceoff circle. He lifted the puck toward Rau, who redirected it in. The tally moved Rau into second place all-time on the Iowa Wild goal-scoring list.
This contest looked like he was earmarked for overtime, but this time it was the Wild who scored in the final minute as Shaw delivered the game-winner with 31 seconds left in the contest. Turner Ottenbreit moved up along the boards on the play, passing it back to Shaw at the point, who lifted a wrist shot that found its way through traffic and in to complete the hat trick and the come from behind victory. Eric Staal earned an assist on the play, his second of the contest. Staal now has five points in three games since joining the Wild.
Besides the three goals, Shaw added an assist, giving him a four-point night. That set a single game-high for the Wild forward. McIntyre finished with 21 saves to earn his second victory since joining Iowa. Rau had a goal and an assist. Egle had a goal and two assists for Manitoba.
The Iowa Wild (15-14-4) hit the road to take on the Colorado Eagles (16-11-5) for a two-game set starting on Friday. The puck drops at 8:05 Iowa time.
