DES MOINES, Iowa The Utica Comets won in a truly wild finish, as they defeated the Iowa Wild, 3-2, in a shootout at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Alex Biega won the game in the ninth round with his first shootout goal this season, and goaltender Joe Cannata put together a career-high 43 saves as he earned his fifth victory as a Comet.

The Comets took an early lead in the shootout when Jeremy Welsh converted on his first attempt of the season in the opening round. After a Phillips goal in the third round and a Connolly goal in round seven, Patrick Mullens shot trickled across the line to keep the Comets alive. After the two teams traded misses, Biega ended the game in the ninth round as he snapped a shot past Curry to secure the two points.

Nicklas Jensen and Colin Stuart each found the back of the net during regulation for Utica, which moved to 17-22-2-4 on the season.

The visitors got off to a shaky start as Iowa center Carson McMillan scored his team leading 11th goal of the season to put the Wild ahead by one, 6:17 into the game. Jon Blum also picked up an assist on the play, his 18th of the season.

Utica came right back to knot the score at one as Jensen found the back of the net for the second straight game, with a power-play goal at the 14:44 mark of the first with his 36th point of the season.

A series of firsts gave Utica its only regulation lead of the evening with just 42 seconds left in the first period. Stuart deflected a shorthanded Welsh shot past Iowa netminder Jonas Gustafsson to make it 2-1 which was also the first shorthanded goal Utica has scored this season that hasnt come on an empty net. Welshs assist was his first point as a Comet, as well.

The tying score from the Wild came though when Zach Phillips scored a power-play goal from the slot.

Defenseman Steven Kampfer recorded the primary assist, his eighth of the season, while Landry netted his second point of the night on the play.

A back and forth third period did not result in any goals and the Wild would head to overtime for their sixth straight game and 14th overall.

Read the original here:

Comets edge Iowa on goal in ninth round of AHL shootout