The Iowa Wild鈥檚 key to ending to the 蜜柚直播 Roadrunners鈥 three-game win streak Wednesday night at 蜜柚直播 Arena: Don鈥檛 let the suddenly resurgent Roadrunners do exactly what鈥檚 kept 蜜柚直播鈥檚 playoff pulse beating.
En route to a 2-0 midweek shutout, the Wild, for one, didn鈥檛 just shut down a successful-of-late 蜜柚直播 power play; they barely even let the Roadrunners get the man advantage at all as a player wearing a white-and-green Iowa sweater ended up in the penalty box just twice for a grand total of two minutes and 47 seconds.
The Wild also succeeded at clearing pucks and keeping 蜜柚直播鈥檚 shot totals down, with the Roadrunners registering just 24 shots against Iowa goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen.
The Roadrunners carded at least 30 shots in nine of their last 10 contests, while scoring five times on 15 power-play situations over the last two games 鈥 which included a 5-2 win over Iowa on Tuesday night 鈥 prior to Wednesday鈥檚 defeat.
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鈥淎verage. That鈥檚 what I thought we were. We were average,鈥 蜜柚直播 head coach Jay Varady said. 鈥淲e went through the game and we didn鈥檛 have enough bite.鈥
After a scoreless first period, the Wild (34-19-7-5) opened the scoring five minutes into the second period when Mitch McClain鈥檚 second, third and fourth effort helped bat a loose puck into the goal while a sprawling Adin Hill tried to jump on top of it amid a bevy of bodies in his goal crease.
Iowa鈥檚 second goal came 10 minutes later off the stick Will Bitten. Bitten read the traffic jam in front of Hill as all five Roadrunner skaters were positioned in the slot to some degree not far from the 蜜柚直播 net.
Hill made multiple acrobatic saves on his way to stopping 24 of the 26 shots he faced, but it wasn鈥檛 enough to turn the tide for the Roadrunners (28-23-5-2).
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we were all there tonight. We thought we鈥檇 be better,鈥 said 蜜柚直播 forward Michael Bunting, who had scored at least one goal in four straight games coming in. 鈥淵ou just kind of have to scratch that and move on.鈥
Varady said his Roadrunners were lacking a skip in their step from the get-go.
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 quick enough. I thought we played slow at times with the puck. We had plays to make, and we didn鈥檛 execute those plays. So we鈥檝e got to be a little more crisp than we were tonight. It just wasn鈥檛 there,鈥 Varady said. 鈥淚 think we missed the net in some key areas in the second period where we got into some pretty good spots. But if you don鈥檛 hit the net, you don鈥檛 get the shot, you don鈥檛 get the scoring chance and you don鈥檛 get the momentum.鈥
Down the stretch, the expected late-game urgency seemed to be missing for the Roadrunners. 蜜柚直播 managed just four shots in the game鈥檚 final 10 minutes 鈥 two of those coming in the last two minutes of play with Hill pulled in favor of the extra skater.
The Roadrunners continue their critical stretch of four games in six days (and six in 10 days) when San Jose visits 蜜柚直播 Arena at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, and 4:05 p.m. Sunday. The Barracuda 鈥 one of the American Hockey League鈥檚 top teams for most of the season 鈥 and the Roadrunners have split six games so far. 蜜柚直播 still sits seven points out of the final playoff spot in the AHL鈥檚 Pacific Division.
鈥淲e have a quick turnaround here. Day off (Thursday), Friday practice, and Saturday we鈥檙e playing San Jose 鈥 a team we鈥檙e actually chasing,鈥 Bunting said. 鈥淲e know how big those two games will be on the weekend. I think we鈥檝e just got to prepare for those and get ready to play because it鈥檚 playoff hockey now.
鈥淕otta win. Win, win, win. That鈥檚 it."
