SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Iowa Wild completed a seven-game road trip with a 7-5 win over the San Diego Gulls at Pechanga Arena on Wednesday night. Brendan Gaunce (1-2=3) and Liam Öhgren (2-1=3) each recorded three points in the victory.
Caedan Bankier knocked a rebound past Oscar Dansk (21 saves) 2:54 into the game with assists from Reese Johnson and Ryan Sandelin.
Öhgren intercepted a pass from Dansk and deposited the puck into an empty net 1:07 later to widen Iowa’s lead to 2-0.
San Diego tied the game with a pair of goals from Nico Myatovic and Jan Mysak at 8:17 and 16:27 of the first period, respectively.
The Wild outshot the Gulls 10-8 in the opening 20 minutes.
Tristan Luneau put San Diego ahead 3-2 at 6:16 of the middle frame with a shot that bounced off a defender and fluttered over Samuel Hlavaj (25 saves).
Öhgren flipped a backhand effort through Dansk on the power play 2:06 later to even the score at 3-3. Gaunce and Spacek assisted on Öhgren’s second goal of the game.
Travis Boyd and Spacek combined to set up Gaunce for a point shot through traffic at 10:42.
Iowa led 4-3 and outshot San Diego 21-17 through two periods of play.
Öhgren set up Hunter Haight in front on the power play to make the score 5-3 at 4:24 of the third period. Gaunce earned his second assist of the game on Haight’s tally.
Carson Meyer scored 20 seconds later to pull the Gulls back within a goal.
Bradley Marek restored Iowa’s two-goal lead at 8:21 when he received a centering feed from Sammy Walker and squeezed a shot under Vyachelsav Buteyets (three saves).
Adam Raska added an insurance goal for the Wild at 12:40 with assists from Bankier and Joseph Cecconi and Sasha Pastujov scored for the Gulls with 20 seconds remaining.
Iowa outshot San Diego 31-30. The Wild finished 2-for-3 with the man advantage while the Gulls went 2-for-6 on the power play.
Iowa returns to Wells Fargo Arena and kicks off an eight-game homestand with a game on Friday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. against the Rockford IceHogs.
