Wild back in series after Game 3 shutout

Photo: Shane Abbitt

Andrew Hammond made 26 saves and earned his second shutout of the postseason, leading Iowa to a 2-0 win over Chicago in Game 3 of the Central Division Finals on Sunday afternoon.

The Wolves’ series lead is down to 2-1 heading into Game 4 on Wednesday in Des Moines, where the Wild have now outscored their opponents 15-1 in three games this postseason.

Iowa jumped in front when Matt Read collected a loose puck behind the Chicago net and centered to Luke Kunin, who snapped home a shot from between the circles at 17:05 of the opening period. It was Kunin’s third goal of the series and sixth of the playoffs.

Read finished off the victory by scoring an empty-net goal with 54.9 seconds to go in the game.

Iowa was 4-for-4 on the penalty kill in Game 3, and has allowed only one power-play goal in 32 chances this postseason (96.9 percent).

Oscar Dansk (4-2) stopped 18 of 19 shots for the Wolves, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Central Division Finals – Series “K” (best-of-7)
C1-Chicago Wolves vs. C3-Iowa Wild
Game 1 – Wed., May 1 – CHICAGO 3, Iowa 2 (OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Thu., May 2 – CHICAGO 4, Iowa 3 | Recap
Game 3 – Sun., May 5 – IOWA 2, Chicago 0
Game 4 – Wed., May 8 – Chicago at Iowa, 8:00
Game 5 – Fri., May 10 – Chicago at Iowa, 8:00
*Game 6 – Mon., May 13 – Iowa at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 7 – Wed., May 15 – Iowa at Chicago, 8:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern