Heartlanders bring long points streak into weekend set at Wheeling

Wheeling, WV – The Iowa Heartlanders, proud ECHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild and Iowa Wild, ride a team-record eight-game points streak into a Saturday showdown at the Wheeling Nailers, with puck drop slated for 6:10 p.m.

Iowa overcame a third-period deficit to force overtime Thursday at Fort Wayne in Iowa’s last game. The Komets won the game in the shootout, 4-3. Davis Koch scored twice for Iowa and leads the team with nine goals. 

The loss snapped a seven-game Landers winning streak, which tied for the Iowa team record. 

Thursday’s game was the first time in eight contests Iowa allowed at least three goals in a game. 

Iowa ranks second in the Central Division in points (17) at 7-4-2-1.

The Heartlanders are in the third game of a ten-game road trip. The team visits Wheeling twice Saturday and Sunday to end a three-city week. At the end of this week, Iowa will be four games through the ten-game trip.

Iowa is next at home Dec. 15-17 vs. Toledo. 

Get tickets for Heartlanders Home games: Iowaheartlanders.com/tickets

Game Day Guide: 
5:50 PM: FloHockey broadcast and audio broadcast starts.
6:10 PM: Puck Drop 
Watch on FloHockey https://flosports.link/3tVsLmd

Listen on Mixlr mixlr.com/goheartlanders

Need to know
- The Heartlanders eight-game points streak is the longest streak in team history. During the streak, Iowa is 7-0-0-1

- Jake Durflinger scored his third goal of the season and took a season-high seven shots in Thursday’s game vs. Fort Wayne. 
- Iowa is 7-1-1-1 this month and have already secured the winningest November in team history. 

Affiliates: Iowa Heartlanders (Minnesota Wild/Iowa Wild) | Wheeling Nailers (Pittsburgh Penguins/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins)

Koch bangs in two more goals

Davis Koch earned his third multi-goal game in the last week, tallying twice in Iowa’s 4-3 shootout loss to Fort Wayne. The fifth-year professional also scored a goal in the shootout, Iowa’s lone strike. Koch has six goals and seven points in his last four games, including the three multi-goal efforts.

The Surrey, BC native has scored nine goals and 14 points, both of which are best on the team. Entering the week, only four ECHL players have hit double-digit goals.

Koch has scored at least a point in seven of eight contests.

Timely goals for Iowa

The Heartlanders average about three goals per game this season, but Thursday’s game vs. Fort Wayne exemplified the timeliness of Iowa’s strikes. After falling behind by a goal, Davis Koch tied the game in the final seven minutes of the game. 

One measure of “timeliness” might be how many periods Iowa has scored this season. The Heartlanders have scored at least a goal in 71 percent of regulation periods this season (30/42). Additionally, Iowa has tallied a goal in two frames or all three periods in every contest.

The Heartlanders have scored in the third period in all but two games this season. 

Road trip mileage update

The Heartlanders are in the third game of the team’s franchise record ten-game road trip. So far, the club is 760 miles through an expected 3400-mile journey. After this Sunday’s trip home, Iowa will have about 1400 miles of the trip completed, with more road games to come in Cincinnati and Toledo next weekend.

Next up
The Heartlanders visit Wheeling again Sunday at 3:10 p.m.

 

Rose Club Memberships & Tickets Now Available For 2023-24 Season
Rose Club Season Ticket Memberships, Partial Plans, Mini-Plans, Flex Tickets and Single-Game Tickets are now available for the 2023-24 season, the Heartlanders’ third in the ECHL. Call 319-569-goal or visit iowaheartlanders.com/tickets for more information.