Kunin hat trick leads Iowa past Hogs, 4-0

DES MOINES, IA  – The Iowa Wild (31-28-6-2, 70 points) defeated the Rockford IceHogs (22-34-9-3, 56 points) 4-0 on Tuesday night in front of 3,828 fans at Wells Fargo Arena. Iowa rookie forward Luke Kunin registered a hat trick in his home debut. Wild goalie Alex Stalock (20-16-7) made 32 saves in the shutout win over the IceHogs. Forward Alex Tuch also tallied a goal in the Iowa win. IceHogs goalie Mac Carruth (5-10-5) stopped 22 of 25 shots in the loss. Iowa welcomes Chicago on Friday at 7 PM.

Iowa opened the scoring at 3:02 of the first period. Rookie forward Luke Kunin scored his first professional goal, giving the Wild an early 1-0 lead. Forward Sam Anas and defenseman Mike Reilly helped set up the goal. The give-and-go pass from Anas helped Kunin beat Rockford goalie Curruth on the stick side. Kunin scored his second professional goal and second of the night at 8:44 of the opening frame. The goal was set up by defenseman Maxime Fortunus and forward Zack Mitchell. Kunin tipped in Fortunus’ shot from the right-wing circle, extending Iowa’s lead to 2-0.

After a scoreless second period, Alex Tuch scored his 16th goal of the season at 2:54 of the third period. The goal was assisted by forwards Pat Cannone and Kurtis Gabriel. Kunin scored his third professional goal at 18:44 of the third period. The empty-net goal was set up by Cannone. Kunin’s hat trick made it a 4-0 final in favor of Iowa.