Iowa Wild Snap Slump, Darcy Kuemper Grabs Shutout
The Iowa Wild snapped their six-game skid with a 4-0 win over the Adirondack Flames on Wednesday night in Glens Falls.
Darcy Kuemper got the start for Iowa as the time on his conditioning stint starts to wind down. He pulled in a 28-save shutout with a couple of huge saves en route to the victory.
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The win was much-needed for an Iowa team who had started to spiral. (Or started to spiral as much as a team already in last place can spiral.) They finished the night with three power play markers, including goals from Guillaume Gelinas, Michael Keranen, Brett Sutter, and Jonathon Blum. Flames goaltender Joni Ortio got the start, but was pulled after allowing four goals in the first two periods on 26 Iowa Wild shots. Doug Carr came in to relieve; he stopped all eight shots he faced in the third frame.
For Sutter that goal ended a 15-game drought, which included the entire month of January and starts to stop his fall through the team ranks in scoring. He was once near the top of the team in points and has fallen to seventh on the team behind Blum.
Gelinas’ goal was only his second pro goal, with his first coming over the weekend. (Look at the joy on his face after he scored.) He got the first goal of the game, a power play goal, giving him his first career game-winner at the pro level.
Brett Bulmer, Stephane Veilleux, Blum, and Keranen all finished the night with two points. Brady Brassart, Blum, and Keranen led the team with five shots each.
Watch some game highlights here:
You can also catch some of the audio highlights here.
Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel, Brad Richard (injury?), Joel Rechlicz, Ruslan Fedotenko (injury?), Gustav Olofsson (injury), and Josh Harding (injury) were the scratches. Both Richard and Fedotenko left the previous Iowa game with an injury. No word on why they were scratched, but it’s probably safe to assume they’re out of the lineup with injuries. Fedotenko only played one full game with Iowa before leaving the game against the Hamilton Bulldogs with an injury.
Iowa is back in action on Friday with a rematch against the Hamilton Bulldogs, who came into Des Moines and swept the Wild in a two-game series last weekend. Then on Saturday they head to Toronto to take on the Marlies.