Iowa edge Moose on late goal, 2-1

DES MOINES, IA  – The Iowa Wild (18-30-3-4, 43 points) defeated the Manitoba Moose (16-29-4-5, 41 points) 2-1 in front of 4,411 fans at Wells Fargo Arena on Wednesday night. Wild Captain Maxime Fortunus scored with 10:07 remaining in the third period, pushing Iowa past Manitoba for its second consecutive victory. Forward Zack Mitchell scored the other Iowa goal, notching his team leading 20th of the season. Iowa goalie Steve Michalek (4-1-0) made 21 saves on 22 shots in the victory. Manitoba goalie Connor Hellebuyck (5-9-1) made 27 saves on 29 shots in the defeat. Moose forward Thomas Raffl scored the lone goal in the Manitoba loss. Iowa heads to Grand Rapids for a 6 PM CT faceoff with the Griffins on Friday. Iowa Wild

Moose forward Thomas Raffl opened the scoring just 4:04 into the first period, giving Manitoba a 1-0 lead. Forwards Chase De Leo and Nic Petan each tallied an assist on the power-play goal. Petan fed a cross-ice pass to De Leo from the left circle. De Leo one touched a pass to Raffl from the right face-off circle. Standing in front of the net, Raffl tapped the puck past goalie Steve Michalek and into the open net for his fourth goal of the season.

Iowa forward Zack Mitchell got the Wild on the board with 1:16 remaining in period two. Defenseman Tyson Strachan earned an assist on the goal. Strachan found Mitchell with a stretch pass off the boards from the defensive zone. Mitchell received the pass and went streaking down the ice on a breakaway. Mitchell fired a wrist shot from in front of the net, net goalie Connor Hellebuyck low on the glove side for his 20th goal of the season.

Wild defenseman Maxime Fortunus scored at 9:53 of the third period, helping Iowa grab a 2-1 lead. Forward Michael Keranen tallied an assist on the goal. Keranen carried the puck into the offensive zone, flipping the puck on net from inside the blueline. Crashing the net, Fortunus knocked in the rebound through Hellebuyck’s five-hole for his fourth goal of the season.

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