Wild Snap Four-Game Skid With Two-Straight Road Wins
by Jarod Fillion
Friday night, the Wenatchee Wild visited the red hot Everett Silvertips at the Angel of the Winds arena. The Wild looked to snap their four game losing streak and ten game losing streak against the Silvertips dating back to last year. The Silvertips entered the contest with a 24-4-2-1 record, while the Wild stood at 9-16-3-1.
After one period, Everett led the shot count 14-8, but the score was 0-0 through one period. The second would see the Wild open the scoring 1:05 into the second period. Wild captain Evan Friesen tapped in his 11th goal of the season on a backdoor pass from Wild forward Kenta Isogai to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. Everett would tie the game up at the 4:54 mark from Silvertips defenseman Eric Jamieson on a second chance opportunity, beating Wild netminder Daniel Hauser over the shoulder.
The Wild powerplay got to work thanks to Wild forward Miles Cooper batting the puck in by the side of the net, trying to throw a pass through the crease. For Cooper, it was his 11th on the year, giving the Wild the lead back at 2-1. Everett again would tie it from a shot from Jesse Heslop finding its way through traffic, evening this game up at 2-2 heading into the final frame.
The one goal in the third period was the difference maker in the game. The visiting Wenatchee Wild cashed in another powerplay opportunity at the 13:44 mark of the third period. Wild forward Dawson Seitz’s wrist shot above the faceoff circle found its way past Silvertips netminder Jesse Sanche. The Silvertips elected to pull their goalie and make it 6 on 5 with 1:51 left in the game, but the Wild hung on and secured the hard fought 3-2 win.
Despite being outshot 40-22, the Wild moved to 10-16-3-1, while the Silvertips fell to 24-5-2-1. Wild goaltender Hauser stopped 38 of 40 shots in the win, moving him to 6-8-3 on the season. The Wild special teams were nearly flawless, going 2 for 3 on the powerplay and stopped all four Silvertips powerplay chances.
After the win in Everett the night before, the Wild quickly traveled to Prospera Place to play the Kelowna Rockets. The Wild got out of the early and never looked back. Wild forward Luka Shcherbyna tapped in a backdoor pass on the powerplay 3:13 into the contest, giving the Wild an early 1-0. Wild’s own Isogai fired a one timer from the point, sneaking its way past Rockets netminder Rhett Stoesser to give the Wild a 2-0 lead at the 7:50 mark of the first period. The first period scoring didn’t stop there for the Wild as Cooper collected a goal, jamming the puck through Stoesser on a blue line scramble in front again on the powerplay, making it 3-0 with 2:39 left in the first period.
It was more of the same for the Wild as they added four more goals in the second period. The first of the four came from Wild forward Shaun Rios on the odd man rush 4:57 into the middle frame. Wild defenseman Eastyn Mannix would fire one home from the point through traffic, making it 5-0 Wild at the 12:20 mark of the second period. 29 seconds later, Rios would find the back of the net on a one timer blast from a pass from Isogai. The Wild made it a perfect 3 for 3 on the powerplay and a 7-0 score on the scoreboard thanks to a Friesen breakaway goal over the shoulder of Kelowna's backup netminder Jake Pilon with 57 seconds left in the second.
The shutout bid would end for the Wild and goaltender Hauser, 61 seconds into the third period on a shot through traffic from Kelowna defenseman Nate Corbet sent the teddy bears flying. The Wild would add two more goals to end the game. At the 7:47 mark, Rios scored his hat trick goal from a stretch pass from Isogai, which made it 8-1. The scoresheet would close with 9:37 remaining from a snipe by Isogai.
13 different Wild players collected at least a point. Isogai, Rios, and Friesen all got three stars of the game. Rios got four points with three goals and an assist (first star), Isogai had two goals and three assists (second star), and Friesen had one goal and four assists (third star). Even netminder Daniel Hauser collected an assist. Hauser stopped 40 of 41 shots and gave himself back to back wins, moving him to 7-8-3 in the year.
The Wild will be back in action in a few weeks. They will travel to Spokane Arena to play the Spokane Chiefs. The puck drop is set for 7:05 on December 27th.
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