DES MOINES, IA – The Iowa Wild scored two goals in the final two minutes of regulation to force overtime, but the Chicago Wolves still earned the extra point with a skate-off goal as they defeated Iowa, 5-4. Sean Malone scored the game-winner less than two minutes into overtime. Both teams got two goals from their special teams.
The Wild took the lead 8:31 into the contest. Josh Healey fell down while moving with the puck behind the Chicago net. That allowed Mitch McLain to gain control. He passed the puck to the point to Louie Belpedio, who fired a slapshot that was knocked down in front and sent to the sideboards. Belpedio regained control of the puck, making a perfect pass across the slot to Will Bitten, who knocked the puck in for his second goal of the season.
The Wild extended their lead to two connecting on the power-play a little less than three minutes into the second period. Gerry Mayhew brought the puck inside the Chicago zone, passing it along the boards to Gabriel Dumont. He fed the puck across the slot to Damien Giroux, who blasted a one-timer by Wolves goaltender Antoine Bibeau for his sixth tally of the year.
The Wild seemed in control, but Chicago would tie the score with two goals 37 seconds apart. The first game at 6:07 when Anthony Richard netted his sixth goal of the year. Jamieson Rees stole the puck from McLain inside the Chicago zone and made a great feed through the neutral zone to Richard. This freed him for a breakaway, and he beat Iowa Wild goaltender Dereck Baribeau with a nice wrist shot.
Seconds later, Keaton Thompson drew a roughing penalty putting Chicago on the power-play, and they would capitalize 10 seconds later. Iowa tried to clear the puck out of the zone, but Frederic Allard knocked down the clearing attempt at the blueline. Allard moved it up the boards to Dominick Bokk, who fed it back to the point. Allard swung the puck across the blueline to Phil Tomasino, who moved in just above the right face-off circle before firing a slapshot that beat Baribeau just inside the right post for his seventh goal of the season, tying the score at two.
The Wolves were off and running and would take the lead with their third straight goal 2:54 into the third. Bokk gained control of the loose puck in the neutral zone, then sped into the Wild end. He fired a wrist shot that the Iowa goaltender got a piece off, but it crept between his arm and side, slithering across the goal line to give Chicago a 3-2 lead.
Six minutes later, Iowa was on the power-play, but the Wolves would extend their lead with a short-handed goal. Allard dumped the puck down into the Iowa zone. Sheldon Rempal outraced a Wild defender, gaining control behind the net. He moved out to just inside the right face-off circle, then fired a wrist shot that somehow found its way over the shoulder of Baribeau and into the net for his second tally of the year. Allard earned his third assist of the game on the play.
The Wild looked like they were about to see their four-game losing streak come to an end, but two tallies in the span of 42 seconds helped the team tie the score. The first came at 18:09 when the Wild scored their second power-play goal of the game. Dumont passed the puck to Calen Addison, who was just inside the left face-off circle. He made a great cross-crease feed to Matt Boldy, who blasted a one-timer past Bibeau for his second goal in as many games.
Moments later, Chicago was trying to clear the puck out of their end, but Addison was able to stop the clearing feed at the blueline, blasting a shot that Mitchell Chaffee deflected over the glove hand of Bibeau for his first goal of the season. For Addison, it was his second assist of the game.
That forced overtime, but it took just 1:43 for Chicago to skate away with the victory. Seconds after the power-play for Chicago ended, Rees fired a shot from the point that Baribeau saved, but the rebound dropped right in front where Malone drilled home the skate-off goal to give Chicago a 5-4 victory.
Besides Allard recording three assists, Rees added two of his own. Bibeau stopped 35 of 39 shots for his third victory of the season. Dumont and Addison both had two assists per Iowa.
Despite losing in overtime, the Wild kept alive their consecutive point streak, moving to seven consecutive games (5-0-2). Iowa (9-9-4) remains two points behind Texas for the fourth spot in the Central Division. The Wild take on the Rockford IceHogs on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Arena. The puck drops at 7:00 p.m.
