SAN ANTONIO – Jordan Kyrou’s hat trick led the San Antonio Rampage to a 5-1 win over the Iowa Wild (12-7-4) on Wednesday morning at the AT&T Center.
The win is the third in the last six games for San Antonio, who opens up a big road trip this weekend north of the border.
“As a group, we were much better,” Rampage Head Coach Drew Bannister said. “I thought our top players came to play. “Our power play gave us a little bit of breathing room.”
The Rampage got on the scoreboard first when Niko Mikkola fired a shot that went off Kyrou and past Iowa goaltender Dereck Baribeau at 5:01 of the 1st period, putting the home team up a goal. The Wild responded just before the period ended as Gerald Mayhew redirected a Brennan Menell shot past Ville Husso, knotting the score up 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Kyrou continued his scoring run at 6:34 of the second period when he scored his first of two power-play goals as he let go of a shot beating Baribeau from the right circle. He added a second goal on the man advantage from the left side, making it 3-1. The goal was his third of the game and eighth of the season.
“It’s a big confidence boost,” Kyrou said of his big day. “We’re going to Toronto this weekend, so we have to keep that momentum going.”
Evan Polei made it 4-1 with his first goal in a Rampage sweater early in the third period. Derrick Pouliot finalized the scoring with an empty-net goal for his fifth goal of the season.
Husso stopped 27 of 28 shots, including three big saves in the third period when Iowa outshot San Antonio 10-5.
“Ville played really well for us today,” Bannister said. “He made some saves to keep the game close when it was tight. I thought he was really good.”
UP NEXT:
The Rampage are now 10-7-7 (27 points) on the season and will return to the ice on Saturday when they face the Toronto Marlies (15-3-2) at 2 p.m.
