DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa Wild (24-26-4-4; 56 pts.) fell to the Chicago Wolves (39-11-5-5; 88 pts.) in a Sunday matinee matchup by a score of 5-2 at Wells Fargo Arena on Mar. 27. Wild forward Mitchell Chaffee scored two goals for the second consecutive game in the loss.
With the Wolves on a powerplay, Chicago forward Andrew Poturalski beat Wild goaltender Dereck Baribeau (33 saves) with a one-timer from the left circle at 14:45 of the first period to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead.
At the conclusion of the first period, Chicago held a 1-0 lead over Iowa. The Wolves outshot the Wild 11-5 in the first stanza.
Chicago forward Jamieson Rees cut into the slot and put a wrist shot past Baribeau at 5:48 of the second period to extend the Wolves’ lead to 2-0.
Chaffee scored on a one-timer from the top of the right circle off a faceoff win by Wild forward Dominic Turgeon at 6:29 of the second period. His goal cut Chicago’s lead to 2-1 and Turgeon was credited with the lone assist on the play.
Following a second period in which the Wild and the Wolves traded goals, Chicago led by a score of 2-1. Iowa outshot Chicago 13-12 in the second period, but the Wolves led 23-18 in shots through the first two periods.
Wolves forward Maxim Letunov deflected a point shot past Baribeau on the powerplay at 12:06 of the third period to give Chicago a 3-1 lead.
Just over two minutes later, Chaffee fired a wrist shot past Wolves goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov (25 saves) on the power play at 14:13 of the third period. Chaffee’s second tally of the game cut the Wolves’ lead to 3-2 and was assisted by Wild defenseman Dakota Mermis and Wild forward Adam Beckman.
After Baribeau made the initial stop on a point shot, Letunov collected the rebound and scored from the slot to give the Wolves a 4-2 lead at 16:18 of the third period.
Iowa pulled Baribeau for the extra attacker at 17:40 of the third period.
At 18:59 of the third period, Wolves forward Jack Drury scored on the empty net from Chicago’s defensive end to put the Wolves up by a score of 5-2.
Iowa could not mount a comeback late and the Wild fell to the Wolves by a final score of 5-2. Shots in the third period were 15-9 in favor of Chicago and the Wolves outshot the Wild 38-27 in the game.
Chaffee’s third period goal was the only powerplay goal for the Wild as Iowa was 1-for-4 and Chicago was 2-for-6 on the powerplay in the contest.
Next up, Iowa kicks off a six-game road trip in San Diego as they take on the Gulls on Friday, Apr. 1 at 9 p.m. CT.