Wild Shift Into Overdrive Late, Collect 3-2 Overtime Win Friday at Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. – The start for the Wenatchee Wild in Friday’s Western Hockey League game at the Portland Winterhawks wasn’t a fast one. The Winterhawks grabbed a two-goal lead in the first period and spent most of the rest of the night defending that advantage.
Their finish couldn’t have been much more high-flying.
Wenatchee charged back with two third-period markers and a five-hole tally from Rui Han halfway through overtime, and the Wild opened the final weekend of January by collecting a 3-2 win at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The win gives Wenatchee victories in five of their seven meetings with Portland this year, including the last four in a row.
The Winterhawks opened the scoring 4:29 into the game, when Nathan Free grabbed a loose puck to the right of Cal Conway and pitched it into the top of the net for the early lead. With 4:29 remaining in the period, Portland pushed the advantage to two goals when Luke Wilfley punched in a second-chance goal off a blue-line throw from Griffin Darby.
Portland controlled the offensive pace through the first 40 minutes, posting a 15-6 advantage on shots in the first and 14-5 in the second. At 5:53 of the third, however, on the last of Wenatchee’s six power plays, Mason Kraft hit the back of the net on a wrist shot from the top of the left-wing circle to cut the gap to 2-1.
That goal lit a spark for a Wenatchee offense that fully caught fire less than four minutes later – the Wild tied the game at 9:34, when Caelan Joudrey pounced on an Ondrej Stebetak rebound, following a left-point shot from Josh Toll. The Wild out-shot their hosts 16-8 in the third period and registered both shots in overtime, ending with Han’s drive down the slot – his chance along the ice skidded through Stebetak at 2:38 to send the Wild through to the win column.
Toll led all scorers with three assists, extending his team scoring lead to five points over Luka Shcherbyna, who had an assist of his own. Kraft had a goal and an assist, with the goal marking his first since January 2. Conway earned his fifth win of the season and first of 2026, turning away 35 Portland shots.
Stebetak was tagged with the overtime loss, making 26 saves – Wenatchee finished Friday’s game 1-for-6 on the power play while killing both of Portland’s power plays. The Wild improved to 18-26-2-2, climbing above Vancouver in the Western Conference standings, while the Winterhawks slipped to 22-22-4-0 on the year.
Wenatchee finishes its road trip, and the month of January, Saturday with a visit to the Tri-City Americans – puck drop at Toyota Center in Kennewick is scheduled for 6:05 p.m., with live coverage on Newsradio 560 KPQ and Victory+. The Wild return to home ice Friday, February 6, when they welcome Victoria to Town Toyota Center for their annual Diaper Toss.
Tickets for next Friday’s game and all regular-season Wild home games are on sale now by phone at 509-888-7825, online here or by visiting the team office at Town Toyota Center. Updated news and information on Wild hockey are always available through the team’s website and on the team’s social media platforms on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
Wenatchee 0 0 2 1 – 3
Portland 2 0 0 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Portland, Free 21 (Slobodian, Brown), 4:29. 2, Portland, Wilfley 5 (Darby, McDonough), 15:31. Penalties-Matthews Por (slashing), 6:07; Pšenička Por (roughing), 8:48; Han Wen (hooking), 12:30; Darby Por (high sticking), 18:22.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Han Wen (cross checking), 1:42; Gustafson Por (roughing), 1:42; Wilfley Por (boarding), 1:42; Vaillant Wen (major-fighting), 6:32; Brown Por (major-fighting), 6:32; Toll Wen (slashing), 8:21.
3rd Period-3, Wenatchee, Kraft 9 (Caffey, Toll), 5:53 (PP). 4, Wenatchee, Joudrey 12 (Toll, Kraft), 9:34. Penalties-Gustafson Por (high sticking), 1:52; Duguay Por (high sticking), 4:32.
OT Period-5, Wenatchee, Han 6 (Toll, Shcherbyna), 2:38. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Wenatchee 6-5-16-2-29. Portland 15-14-8-0-37.
Power Play Opportunities-Wenatchee 1 / 6; Portland 0 / 2.
Goalies-Wenatchee, Conway 5-9-1-0 (37 shots-35 saves). Portland, Štěbeták 15-15-2-0 (29 shots-26 saves).
A-6,105
Referees-Tatu Kunto (95), Ward Pateman (124).
Linesmen-Mitchell Gibbs (142), Toby Wolfe (178).
