Wild halt skid with win over Monsters, 4-2

CLEVELAND, OH – The Iowa Wild (4-16-1-3, 10 points) defeated the Lake Erie Monsters (12-5-1-2, 27 points) 4-2 in front of 2,808 fans on Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena. Trailing 2-0 late in the second period, Iowa charged back and scored four unanswered goals for its first win since Oct. 31. Iowa ended its 13-game winless skid (0-11-0-2) led by defenseman Christian Folin the Wild defeated the Western Conference leaders. Iowa goalie Leland Irving (3-7-3) stopped 31 of 33 leading Iowa to Iowa Wildits second regulation win this season.  Forwards Grayson Downing and Jordan Schroeder also posted multi-point games, as Iowa improved to 2-7-0-1 on the road this year. Forward Zack Mitchell scored his team leading seventh goal in the victory. Lake Erie goalie Joonas Korpisalo (5-3-2) made 27 saves in the loss, the Monsters first regulation loss at home this season. The Wild remains at Lake Erie for a 6 p.m. (CT) puck drop with the Monsters on Friday.

The Monsters struck for a power-play goal at 10:50 of the opening frame. Monsters defenseman Dean Kukan worked the puck to the right-wing wall for T.J. Tynan. The Lake Erie center snapped a shot to the Iowa net that was knocked down by goalie Leland Irving. Right wing Josh Anderson scooped up the rebound and slipped it past Irving for his fourth goal of the year and a 1-0 Monsters lead.

Lake Erie pushed ahead at 15:32 of the second period, as defenseman John Ramage beat Irving for his first goal of the year. Forward Trent Vogelhuber set up the goal with an outlet pass through center ice.  Ramage carried in on the right wing and snuck a shot, low to the right of Irving for the 2-0 lead. Iowa answered back quickly, as center Jordan Schroeder scored just 14 seconds later to make it a 2-1 game. Schroeder fired a shot from the left-wing side, off the rush, beating Joonas Korpisalo on the short side for his third goal of the year. Defenseman Maxime Fortunus had the lone assist on the play. The Wild continued to press on and tie the game with a shorthanded goal by Zack Mitchell at 17:24. Defenseman Christian Folin drove the net and opened a lane for Mitchell off the rush. The Wild right wing used the defense as a screen and beat Korpisalo for his team leading seventh goal of the season for the 2-2 score.

Iowa carried its momentum into the third period, capitalizing on a pair of power-play goals in the first seven minutes of the period. The Wild struck at 5:39, as Folin ripped a one-timer past Korpisalo for the 3-2 lead. Grayson Downing slipped the puck from the right-wing wall to the blueline for Christoph Bertschy. He sent a cross-ice pass to Folin, who scored his second goal in his third game with Iowa. The Wild doubled its lead at 7:09 with another power-play goal. Schroeder won a faceoff back to Folin at the blueline, who sent the puck to the net. Downing scooped up the rebound and banked it off the pads of Korpisalo for his sixth goal of the season and a 4-2 lead.

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