SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The Springfield Thunderbirds (32-26-2-4) held off the Iowa Wild (22-35-5-1) by a 4-2 score and shaved their magic number down to 6 in their pursuit of a Calder Cup playoff berth on Saturday night inside a sold-out MassMutual Center.

For a second straight night, the Wild unleashed an all-out blitz on Colten Ellis and the Springfield goal crease, outshooting the T-Birds 19-5 in the opening 20 minutes. Despite their efforts, the Wild were forced to play from behind after a turnover wound up on the stick of Nikita Alexandrov. Alexandrov bobbled the puck on his way to the blue paint, but after it glanced off Samuel Hlavaj, Tanner Dickinson pounced on the loose change to jam it home and give Springfield the 1-0 lead at 12:50.

The Wild finally found a way to break the ice after back-to-back Springfield penalties set the stage for a lengthy 5-on-3 advantage, where Liam Ohgren rifled a one-timer through Ellis on the glove side at 17:58 to make it a 1-1 game after the opening stanza.

The Springfield man advantage endured a tough night on Friday, but in the second period Saturday, they returned to form as captain Matthew Peca found a soft spot between the circles and laced a one-timer from Alexandrov over Hlavaj's glove to make it 2-1 at 7:31.

Dylan Peterson then injected his presence into the game at 14:06, finding a loose puck in the net-mouth scramble and tucking a between-the-leg shot through Hlavaj to give Springfield a 3-1 advantage. 

The T-Birds did not do themselves any favors with their discipline, and with another man-advantage just 1:43 later, Ohgren snapped home his second goal of the night from the left circle, cutting the lead in half heading into the final period.

Neither team gave up much open ice in a final period that saw the 3-2 score carry all the way into the closing minutes. With Iowa pulling Hlavaj for an extra skater, the T-Birds survived a handful of close scoring chances before finally sealing the game when MacKenzie MacEachern found the empty net with under a minute to play.

By virtue of their win and the Hartford Wolf Pack's regulation loss to Providence, the T-Birds lowered their playoff-clinching magic number to 6. Springfield will attempt to lower that number further on Sunday as they visit the Providence Bruins to complete a three-game, three-day stretch. Puck drop is set for 3:05 p.m. at Amica Mutual Pavilion.

Fans can get their Thunderbirds tickets for the Calder Cup playoff push today by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or by visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.