Iowa rally past Moose, 3-1

WINNIPEG, MB, Can., – The Iowa Wild (16-18-2-1, 35 points) defeated the Manitoba Moose (14-15-3-2, 33 points) 3-1 in front of 4,807 fans on Sunday at the MTS Centre. Trailing 1-0 heading into the third period, Iowa rallied with a goal by Christoph Bertschy 28 seconds into the period, followed by Pat Cannone’s tally with 6:43 left in regulation. Bertschy finished with two goals after adding an empty-net goal in the final minutes. Iowa goalie Alex Stalock (10-10-2) stopped 31 shots for the win, as Iowa finished the season series with a 6-2-0-0 mark against the Moose. Manitoba goalie Ondrej Pavelec (7-6-2) stopped 20 of 22 in defeat and the Wild improved to 7-1-0-0 all-time in Winnipeg.  Iowa remains on the road with a two-game trip to San Antonio starting on Friday at 7:30 PM.

After a scoreless first period, the Moose opened the scoring at 14:50 of the middle period. Manitoba capitalized off a double minor penalty for high sticking to Teemu Pulkkinen midway through the period. On the back half of the double minor, the Moose struck for the game’s first goal off some quick puck movement. Kyle Connor played the puck from the top of the right-wing circle down to Chase De Leo on the goal-line. De Leo one-touched a pas to the backdoor where Dan DeSalvo was camped out. He beat Alex Stalock for his ninth goal of the season and a 1-0 lead.

Iowa responded 0:28 into the third period with a shorthanded goal by Christoph Bertschy. Center Grayson Downing broke up a play at center and Bertschy shot up the right-wing side, took the puck and skated in alone on goalie Ondrej Pavalec for a breakaway. Bertschy wedged a backhand shot between the pads of Pavalec for his fourth goal of the year and a 1-1 score. The Wild claimed the lead at 13:17 when Pulkkinen set up Pat Cannone to score off a 2-on-1 rush. Pulkkinen carried down the left-wing side into the Moose zone and sent a cross-ice feed to Cannone, who was set up to the right of the goal. Cannone potted his fifth goal of the year to put Iowa on top 2-1, with an additional assist from Colton Beck. Bertschy added an empty-net goal at 18:14 for the 3-1 final. Downing added his second assist of the day on Bertschy’s fifth goal of the year.