(PHOTO: Garrett Szydlowski’s shorthanded goal gave the Wild a 1-0 lead on Wednesday night.
CREDIT: Russ Alman / wildhockeyphotos.com)
The Wenatchee Wild wrapped up the home portion of their regular season schedule on Wednesday night at Town Toyota Center against the BCHL top-seeded Penticton Vees.
The Wild opened the scoring on a shorthanded goal by Garrett Szydlowski who wired a five-hole shot off a pass from Cade Stibbe following a line change, with Connor Overson posting the secondary helper. It remained 1-0 Wenatchee after one. The second period was explosive. Penticton scored twice to take a 2-1 lead, one goal on a power play and the second following a turnover in the slot. Wenatchee tied it up as Landon Parker lifted a high shot over the shoulder of the Vees goalie from a steep right-wing angle, set up by Hunter Hastings and Anthony Cafarelli. Just :35 seconds later, Ean Somoza jammed the rebound of a David Hejduk shot from the right half wall to seize a 3-2 advantage, with Cade Stibbe collecting an assist. In the final minute of the period, the Vees converted on a power play to knot the score at 3-3.
In the third period, the Wild were denied on two power play chances, the second coming late in the period and Wenatchee pulling the goalie for the extra skater and a 6-on-4 advantage but the Vees held off the furious push to skate off with a 4-3 win. Tyler Shea kicked aside 33 of 37 shots.
Wild Head Coach Chris Clark reflected, “I am proud of the effort tonight. I thought we did a lot of good things 5 on 5 that we can build on. The difference came down to special teams. We need to regroup and respond in those two areas this weekend while maintaining our 5 on 5 play.”
The Wild (22-25-5) close out the regular season this weekend with a visit to Trail on Friday (7pm PDT) and Cranbrook on Saturday (6pm PDT). Wenatchee opens their best-of-seven playoff series in Salmon Arm on Saturday April 2 at 7pm PDT. Live radio coverage will be available on NewsRadio 560 KPQ with video available at bchltv.ca. Arch Ecker provides play-by-play.
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