Wild Net Late Goal to Defeat Colorado, 5-3
Dec 28, 2022
DES MOINES, IA. – Iowa forward Damien Giroux scored his first two goals of the season, including the game winner with just 3:22 remaining in regulation, as the Wild defeated the Colorado Eagles 5-3 on Wednesday. Iowa defenseman Dakota Mermis added a goal and two assists and finished the night at a +4. Colorado was held to a season-low 18 shots in the loss, as Oskar Olausson, Josh Jacobs and Alex Galchenyuk each found the back of the net for the Eagles.
Colorado would get on the board early, as Olausson capped off a 2-on-1 rush with a wrister from the right-wing circle that lit the lamp and gave the Eagles a 1-0 edge just 3:25 into the contest.
Iowa struck back 1:13 later when Mermis collected the puck at the left point off a faceoff and fired a shot through traffic that would find the back of the net and tie the game at 1-1.
The Wild would grab its first lead of the night when defenseman Turner Ottenbreit beat Colorado goalie Justus Annunen with a wrister from the high slot to give Iowa a 2-1 advantage at the 11:22 mark of the first period.
The Eagles would swing the momentum the other direction when Jacobs fielded a cross-slot pass at the bottom of the left-wing circle and snapped a shot past Iowa goaltender Zane McIntyre to knot the game at 2-2 with 4:44 remaining in the opening 20 minutes of play. The Wild would go on to outshoot Colorado 8-7 in the period and the two teams headed to the first intermission still deadlocked at 2-2.
Iowa would earn back-to-back power plays midway through the second period, including 11 seconds of a 5-on-3 opportunity. However, the Eagles would hold strong on the kill and shut down both power plays to keep the contest tied at 2-2. The hard work would ultimately earn Colorado its own power play just minutes later when forward Mike O’Leary was sent to the box for slashing. The opportunity would go sideways for the Eagles, as a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush led to Giroux slamming home a goal from the right-wing circle to put the Wild in the driver’s seat 3-2 at the 15:49 mark of the middle frame.
Still trailing 3-2 as the puck dropped on the third period, Colorado would level the score on a power play when Galchenyuk skated through the slot and redirected a centering pass into the back of the net, tying the game at 3-3 at the 2:48 mark.
As time ticked down in the contest, a faceoff win for Iowa would set up Mermis to fire a shot from the blue line that would be tipped by Giroux, sending the puck past Annunen and giving the Wild a 4-3 advantage with 3:22 left to play.
The Eagles would pull Annunen in favor of the extra attacker in the final two minutes, but it would be Iowa who would capitalize with an empty-netter from forward Nick Swaney at the 18:35 mark to secure the 5-3 victory.
Colorado finished the game 1-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill as the Eagles were outshot by a final count of 29-18.
The Eagles will be back in action when they take on the Iowa Wild on Friday, December 30th at 5:00pm MT at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. Tickets for all regular season games are on sale now and start at just $21. You can find more information on ticket packages, theme tickets, and promotional nights, by visiting ColoradoEagles.com or by calling the ticket department at (970) 686-7468.
