DES MOINES, Iowa – Brendan Gaunce recorded a hat trick and Jesper Wallstedt turned aside all 23 shots he faced as the Iowa Wild shut out the Rockford IceHogs 5-0 at Wells Fargo Arena on Wednesday night.
Gaunce opened the scoring 2:45 into the game when he tipped a turnaround shot by Luke Toporowski past Mitchell Weeks (17 saves). Matthew Sop also assisted on Gaunce’s first tally.
Sammy Walker doubled Iowa’s 37 seconds later. After Bradley Marek forced a turnover at the red line, Walker streaked down the right wing and snapped a wrister under the glove of Weeks.
Iowa outshot Rockford 13-9 and led 2-0 after 20 minutes.
Gaunce picked up his second of the game at 15:27 of the middle frame. Sop stole the puck from a Rockford defender, dropped a pass to Gaunce, and Gaunce wired a shot under the crossbar.
Gaunce completed the hat trick 45 seconds later with a cleaning effort from his own end that snuck under the blocker of Weeks.
Iowa led 4-0 and held a 21-17 shot advantage through two periods.
Graeme Clarke capped the scoring with 4:41 remaining with an unassisted breakaway goal.
Ben Gaudreau stopped 5-of-6 shots for Rockford in the third period in relief of Weeks.
Iowa outshot Rockford 27-23. The Wild finished scoreless on six power plays while the IceHogs went 0-for-1 with the man advantage.
Iowa travels to UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena to take on the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m.
