DES MOINES, Iowa – Liam Öhgren scored a pair of goals and the Iowa Wild found the back of the net four times in the third period in a 5-2 win over the Milwaukee Admirals at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday night. Jesper Wallstedt turned aside 22-of-24 shots in the victory.
Milwaukee outshot Iowa 10-6 in a scoreless opening period.
Öhgren opened the scoring 5:23 into the middle frame. Sammy Walker and Hunter Haight worked the puck out of the corner and into the slot for Öhgren to rifle past Magnus Chrona (21 saves), off the post, and in.
Jake Lucchini tied the game for the Admirals at 10:13 with a tip-in off a backdoor feed from Joakim Kemell on a 5-on-3 power play.
The Wild outshot the Admirals 16-15 through 40 minutes.
Öhgren put Iowa ahead for good 6:33 into the third period when he collected a cross-ice pass from Walker and snapped it over Chrona’s glove.
Bradley Marek collected a turnaround bid from Ryan Sandelin and lifted a backhand shot under the crossbar at 12:02 of the third. Jack Peart also picked up an assist on Marek’s goal.
Carson Lambos extended Iowa’s lead to 4-1 2:06 later. Brendan Gaunce spurred an odd man rush and Matthew Sop found Lambos in the high slot to earn his first AHL assist.
Ozzy Wiesblatt scored at 15:13 of the third for Milwaukee, but Graeme Clarke tallied an empty-net goal with 43 seconds remaining.
Iowa outshot Milwaukee 26 to 24. The Wild finished scoreless on three man advantage opportunities while the Admirals went 1-for-5 on the power play.
The two teams square off again at Wells Fargo Arena on Sunday at 3 p.m.