Story by Tony Uminski
SAN ANTONIO – The Iowa Wild stormed back from a 2-0 first period hole to beat the San Antonio Rampage 3-2 at the AT&T Center on Sunday afternoon.
The Rampage grabbed the lead before many fans had their first mouthful of popcorn when Ryan Olsen scored just nine seconds into the game. A pair of defensemen named Jake – Walman, and Dotchin getting assists.
It was the first AHL shot on Iowa 6-6 goaltender, Dereck Baribeau, who settled in after the initial shock of giving up a goal so quickly into his debut after a strong junior career and a couple of games in the ECHL. Overall, Baribeau stopped 30 of the 32 Rampage shots in the game.
Five minutes into the contest, Olsen’s shot was the only Rampage salvo on the rookie, but San Antonio shooters warmed up with Nolan Stevens firing the puck into an empty net after a nifty crossing feed from defenseman Andreas Borgman at 17:56.
For the next 42 minutes, it was Wild, with Iowa out-chancing San Antonio and outscoring the home team, 3-0.
Iowa scored the only second-period goal when Nico Strum sent the puck dribbling by Rampage goaltender Adam Wilcox, who got a piece of the shot, but it managed to crawl over the goal line at 5:14.
The Wild kept Wilcox on his toes the rest of the middle session, outshooting San Antonio 15-8.
Iowa then scored twice in the third to take the lead. The Des Moines anchored club drew even on the power play just 23 seconds into the third period as Luke Johnson scored from the top of the left circle. Colton Beck provided a big screen on Wilcox, who didn’t see the puck until it was by him.
Then, at 10:03 the Wild struck again, with Strum striking paydirt for his second of the game after a crisp pass from Sam Anas, his third assist of the contest.
The Wild now lead the league with five wins when trailing heading into the third period (5-5-0-2), while the Rampage are now 5-2-1-1 when leading after two periods.
The Rampage power play was 0-6 on the afternoon.
Since starting the season at 6-2-2-1, the Rampage have struggled with a 3-5-3-1 mark since the Nov. 2, 8-2 spanking of the Texas Stars. San Antonio has been outscored by opponents 36-27.
San Antonio falls to 9-7-5-2, with Iowa improving to 12-6-2-2.
