ROCKFORD, IL. – Iowa Wild (7-1-2-1; 17 pts.) dropped its final contest of a seven-game road trip by a score of 3-2 in overtime to the Rockford IceHogs (4-5-0-0; 8 pts.) Saturday evening. 
The Wild took a 1-0 lead at 7:42 in the first period off the stick of forward Kyle Rau while on the power play. Forward Sam Anas started the play with a no-look one-touch pass between his legs to defenseman Brennan Menell, who shuttled the puck over to Rau. He skated to the top of the left circle and lasered a shot over the glove of goaltender Kevin Lankinen (30 saves) for the tally.
At the end of the first period, Iowa held a 1-0 lead as shots were tied 8-8.
Iowa added to its lead with an unassisted tally from forward Colton Beck at 16:26 in the second period. On the power-play, Beck went coast-to-coast before wristing a shot past Lankinen’s right shoulder for his first goal of the season, giving the Wild a 2-0 lead.
Following the second period, the Wild led 2-0 while Rockford owned a 23-16 shot advantage.
Rockford pulled Lankinen late in the third period and proceeded to score two goals in 28 seconds to erase the Wild’s 2-0 lead. The IceHogs made it a 2-1 game when defenseman Lucas Carlsson one-timed a pass from defenseman Ian McCoshen past the pad of goaltender Mat Robson (34 saves) at 17:30 in the third period. Rockford then tied the game at 2-2 at 17:58 when forward Tyler Sikura tipped a shot from Carlsson over Robson.
The two teams headed into overtime tied 2-2 with Rockford leading in shots 36-29.
In the extra frame, forward Matthew Highmore snapped a shot past Robson’s glove on a 2-on-1 to give Rockford the 3-2 victory. Iowa went 2-for-6 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill, including killing off a two-minute 5-on-3 in the second period. Rockford outshot the Wild 37-32.
Despite the loss, Iowa earned points in six of its seven games during the season-high road trek. The team’s .713 points percentage is the Wild’s most successful road trip of five games or more since Jan. 25 – Feb. 4, 2017.
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