PHOTO: Josh Arnold (12) and Blake Bargar (25) helped power Wenatchee to a 7-1 win at Salmon Arm on Saturday night.
CREDIT: Pure Life Photography / Chris and Jen Fowler
After seeing their season-high win streak of four games snapped the night before in Trail, the Wenatchee Wild responded with a suffocating attack that led to a 7-1 win over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks at Shaw Centre on Saturday.
The Wild struck first at the 8:19 as Josh Arnold took a pass from Blake Bargar, drove deep into the zone on the left wing and whipped a pass across to AJ Hodges for the score. Olson Werenka tied it for the Silverbacks at 16:39 and the score remained tied at the end of the first. Wenatchee continued with sustained pressure into the second period, aided by a pair of slashing calls, the second of which converted into the eventual game winning goal. It came at 4:54 of the second as Josh Arnold wired a low hard shot through a screen and the Wild led 2-1 after 2, outshooting the home team 26-10. The third period saw Wenatchee rattle off 5 more goals. At the :48 second mark, Brandon Koch won a puck battle in his own zone, then moved it ahead for Josh Arnold. Arnold headmanned a pass to AJ Hodges who got a step behind the Silverback defenseman, and took a slash but still managed to snap a shot past the blocker of Ethan Langenegger for a 3-1 lead. At 6:40, Lucas Sowder walked into the offensive zone alone, surrounded by four Silverbacks as his teammates were changing on the fly behind the play, and the left hander cut across from the right wing and fired a wrister from high in the slot to make it 4-1. A bad pass in the defensive zone for Salmon Arm was seized by Matt Gosiewski at 8:43 for an unassisted snipe blocker side that brought a Silverback goalie change, but the first shot relief goalie Matthew Armitage saw whistled past him at 10:17. It was Josh Arnold’s second goal of the night, set up by Blake Bargar who attacked the puck in the left wing corner and dished it out front where Arnold punched it home for a 6-1 edge. The final tally was earned by Brandon Koch who snuck down from the point to bury a feed from Lucas Sowder on the power play. Austin Park stopped 18 of 19 shots. Josh Arnold had a four-point night (2g, 2a). The Wild outshot Salmon Arm 40-19.
Wenatchee (14-10-2) returns home to face West Kelowna (15-10-0-1) on Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. The games will be available for video streaming on HockeyTV, and will be broadcast live both locally and via internet stream on “Sports Radio 1340 The Hawk” Friday, and “NewsRadio 560 KPQ” Saturday, the Pregame Shows start at 6:45 pm.
