Adam Prokop turned aside 25 shots Friday night to lead the Minnesota Wilderness to its ninth consecutive victory, 4-0, over the Chippewa Steel.
Offensively, the power play drove the Wilderness effort, with the squad scoring three goals with the man-advantage on four chances. It’s the fourth straight contest where the Wilderness connected on multiple power play goals.
Daniel Astapovich led the way with one goal and one assist as the Wilderness registered red lights from four different players. After the two Midwest Division rival battled to a stalemate through most of the first two periods, Gustavs Ozolins broke through to give Minnesota the game’s first lead.
On its first opportunity with the man-advantage, it began to look like the Wilderness were going to go scoreless, as it struggled to maintain consistent pressure in the offensive zone. With 10 seconds left in the power play, Ashton Dahms carried the puck across the Steel blue line, and helped initiate some swift puck movement. Peteris Purmalis and Astapovich then helped maneuver the puck to Ozolins who found the back of the net for the first time this season on a shot from the left circle with 5:06 left in the 2nd period and one second remaining in the power play.
The Wilderness followed with three tallies in the third with two coming in the frame’s first 2:55. Power play goal number 2 came from Nash Jacobsma when his shot from the right circle beat Chippewa goaltender Carter Wishart just 1:54 into the stanza. Beau Janzig and Oliver Stümpel each assisted on the goal which was Jacobsma’s 4th of the season, and third in the last two games.
That was followed just over a minute later with Oliver Band notching his second tally of the campaign, which was aided by tenacious effort from Logan Nagle. Nagle made a rush to the net that led to Wishart denying a shot attempt from point blank range. Nagle then chased down the rebound from along the end boards and caught Band camped out at the right post where he slipped the puck past Wishart to give Minnesota a 3-goal cushion with the game’s only 5-on-5 goal.
The Wilderness then nailed down the victory when Astapovich put away his second of the season. Dahms and Harper Searles helped set up the marker which began with Dahms sending a cross-ice pass to Searles in the left circle. The rookie from Blaine, MN, then fired a shot that hit Wishart, and Astapovich was able to beat the goaltender on the rebound to make it 4-0, on Minnesota’s third power play goal of the night.
Meanwhile, the Wilderness managed to frustrate Chippewa throughout the night. Minnesota’s defenders kept the Steel at bay by preventing fewer than 10 shots in each period but had its moments when it needed Prokop to come through. The veteran from Wausau, WI, made the game’s biggest save when he denied Steel leading scorer Talan Blanck on a breakaway in the third period.
The victory allowed Prokop to remain unbeaten, improving his record to 3-0.
Minnesota outshot the Steel, 37-25, with 18 of its shots coming in the 2nd period.
The Wilderness penalty kill also remained strong by keeping Chippewa scoreless on three chances.
Along with extending its winning streak to nine, the victory gives Minnesota (10-3-2) at least one point in its last 10 games, which ties a franchise record, set in 2013-14. Saturday night, the Wilderness will have an opportunity for its 10th straight victory, which would tie the franchise mark for longest winning streak.
That chance will come in Virginia at the Iron Trail Motors Event Center, in the season’s fourth straight game against the Steel (8-6). Puck drop is set for 7:15 p.m.