DES MOINES, IA — The Springfield Thunderbirds (20-17-2-2) took care of business with a 4-1 victory over the Iowa Wild (14-25-2-1) on Friday night in the first-ever meeting between the clubs at Wells Fargo Arena.

The home-standing Wild were not bashful about testing Colten Ellis in the opening frame, forcing the Springfield backstop to be sharp with 12 stops in the opening frame. 

Springfield's power play did not connect on its first chance of the night, but on their second chance, the T-Birds connected as Alek Kaskimaki filtered a wrist shot through heavy traffic past Samuel Hlavaj to pick up his first goal in the last six games and hand the visitors the 1-0 edge into the intermission. 

The power-play goal seemed to bring a carryover effect as the second period began. Hunter Skinner capitalized with a well-placed wrist shot from the top of the right circle just 17 seconds into the middle frame to extend the lead to 2-0.

After killing an Iowa power play, the T-Birds' man advantage got another chance to show their explosiveness. Just five seconds into the advantage, after a clean Matthew Peca faceoff win, Samuel Johannesson got a shot through to the net. Hlavaj defended the first bid, but Peca cleaned up the rebound to find Dalibor Dvorsky on the right post, and the rookie snapped a wrister home to make it a 3-0 game at 15:06.

After being outshot 10-2 in the second, the Wild pushed back feverishly to begin the third, finally solving Ellis on a Carson Lambos power-play goal at 5:43 of the final period to make it a 3-1 game. Iowa's push continued, but Ellis never let the Wild get any closer, making a crucial point-blank save on a Brad Marek backhander to secure the 3-1 advantage. 

With time quickly running out on the home team, Matt Luff put a bow on the night by lobbing a loose puck over the Iowa defense and into a yawning net at 15:34 to round out the scoring for Springfield's second straight road triumph. Ellis completed his 15th win of the season with 27 saves on 28 Wild attempts. 

The two clubs rematch on Saturday night in the final contest before the AHL All-Star Classic break, with puck drop set for 7:00 p.m. Eastern. 

The T-Birds return home on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 7:05 p.m. for the annual Ice-O-Topes Night presented by Balise as Springfield hosts the Providence Bruins. 

Fans can get their Thunderbirds tickets today by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or by visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.