RECAP: Americans (6) @ Wild (3) – October 25
Wenatchee, WA – The Tri-City Americans (6-3-1-0) took the lead 8:53 into the game and never gave it back, eventually doubling up the Wenatchee Wild (4-7-2-0) 6-3 at the Town Toyota Center Friday night.
After the Americans failed to connect on an early power play, Wenatchee opened the scoring. Luka Shcherbyna skated down the left wing on a two-on-one rush and elected to shoot, beating Lukas Matecha on the glove side to put the Wild up 1-0.
Tri-City wasted no time answering back however as Gavin Garland jumped on a rebound in front of Zach Zahara, and was able to slide it in between his pads as Zahara then slid over the goal line, tying the game at one. Brandon Whynott and Carter MacAdams picked up assists on the goal.
Four minutes later Austin Zemlak let a shot go from the left point that eluded all the traffic on the way to the net and beat a screened Zahara, giving the Americans their first lead of the night.
Tri-City took the 2-1 lead into the intermission, outshooting Wenatchee 13-6.
The Wild came out strong in the second period aided by a few power plays. Matecha stood tall however, denying the Wild at every turn, keeping the Americans in the lead. One of his finest stops came off Kenta Isogai who toe-dragged the puck into the left circle, but Matecha robbed him with the glove to keep the game 2-1.
After killing off a four-minute penalty Tri-City extended. Kale Margolis picked up the puck in the neutral zone and skated down the right wing with a lane to the net. He cut across the crease and shoveled a backhand chance on net that was stopped by Zahara, but the rebound went off the skate of a Wenatchee defenseman and in, pushing the lead to 3-1.
The Americans took the 3-1 lead into the third period before coming out with two quick goals. Jordan Gavin jumped on his own rebound just 2:17 into the third to make it 4-1 before Whynott deflected a shot from Kainoah Brankovic at 4:54 to push the lead to 5-1.
The Wild wouldn’t go quietly however as they scored two goals just 17 seconds apart to cut the lead to 5-3. Stu Barnes called his 30-second timeout following the goals to give the Americans a breather.
Wenatchee ran into penalty trouble following the two goals, allowing the Americans to keep the puck in the Wild zone and kill time on the clock with a two-goal lead.
The Wild eventually pulled Zahara for the extra attacker, but Max Curran and Gavin had a two-on-one with the empty net and Gavin picked up his second goal of the game to ice it, securing a fifth straight win for Tri-City.
The Americans now head to Spokane to wrap up the short two-game weekend before heading home to start a six-game home stand against the Edmonton Oil Kings on Monday.
