Wolves can’t rally from early three-goal deficit against Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa — Veteran forward Luke Johnson scored three goals — all on the power play — to lead the Iowa Wild to a 5-2 victory over the Wolves on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

Forwards Gage Quinney and Tye McGinn scored for the Wolves (26-25-3-2), who couldn’t finish the sweep of the four games on Iowa’s home ice this season.

The Wild (35-16-3-3) broke on top just 1:36 into the game as forward Mason Shaw pulled up at the top of the left circle and launched a wrister that found the top right corner.

The Wild nudged the lead to 2-0 on the game’s first power play. Johnson held the puck atop the left circle and sent a pass toward the slot that changed directions when it hit a Wolves defenseman’s stick at 6:58 of the first.

Johnson snapped home another power-play goal at 15:02 of the first to give the Wild a 3-0 advantage.

Quinney, who earned his first NHL point Sunday when he assisted on a Patrick Brown goal for the Vegas Golden Knights, got the Wolves on the board at 5:44 of the second.

Pirri whistled a pass from the left boards toward the crease and Quinney turned his skate to deflect the puck into the net. The officials initially ruled no goal — claiming Quinney kicked the puck past Kaapo Kahkonen — but they changed their decision after reviewing the replay.

Shortly thereafter, defenseman Nic Hague drew a penalty from Iowa’s Gabriel Dumont for a check to the head. Hague promptly set up forward Tye McGinn for a wrister between the circles for a power-play goal that cut the deficit to 3-2 at the 8:04 mark of the second.

Iowa stemmed the Wolves’ momentum when forward Dmitry Sokolov knocked home a Matt Bartkowski pass to the back door moments after a Wild power-play opportunity ended. Sokolov’s goal made it 4-2 at 15:59 of the second.

Johnson wrapped up his hat trick with eight seconds left in the second when Sam Anas found Johnson open in the left circle and he rifled it home. Anas, the AHL’s assists leader with 45, earned an assist on each of Johnson’s goals.

Kahkonen (24-6-2) had 21 saves for the win while Oscar Dansk (18-11-2) made 31 saves.

The Wolves travel to Manitoba for games Saturday and Sunday before returning to Allstate Arena on March 5.