CLEVELAND, OH – The Iowa Wild (23-19-4-1, 51 points) defeated the Cleveland Monsters (20-18-1-3, 44 points) 3-0 in front of 10,687 fans on Friday night at the Quicken Loans Arena. Iowa goalie Alex Stalock made 27 saves, leading his club to a team record fifth straight win overall. The Iowa goalie improves to 15-10-4 and the team 
extends a team record road-winning streak to eight games – tied for the longest streak in the AHL this season. Forwards Teemu Pulkkinen, Christoph Berstchy and Mario Lucia each scored as the Wild moved to 14-7-2-0 on the road this season. Iowa now has points in 11 of its last 12 games (9-1-2-0). Monsters goalie Anton Forsberg (13-10-2) suffered the loss with nine saves. Iowa remains in Cleveland to meet the Monsters again on Saturday at 6 PM CT.
The Wild struck for the first period’s lone goal, taking a 1-0 lead at 13:03 off Mario Lucia’s ninth goal of the season. The Iowa rookie swept in towards the Cleveland blueline, intercepting an outlet pass. Lucia then ripped a wrist shot, through traffic and past goalie Anton Forsberg for 1-0 lead through one period of play. The goal extended Lucia’s points streak to six straight games.
In the second period, the lead grew to 2-0 at 6:31 of the frame. Wild defenseman Gustav Olofsson played the puck to the Cleveland net that was initially stopped by Forsberg. Crashing the crease, Iowa forward Christoph Bertschy knocked the rebound past Forsberg for the two-goal lead. Right wing Teemu Pulkkinen added an assist on Bertschy’s ninth goal of the season.
Pulkkinen sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 1:43 remaining in regulation for the 3-0 final. Pulkkinen’s 14th goal of the year was set up by Colton Beck.
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