Wild Keep Road Streak Against Tri-City Rolling with 4-2 Win Saturday
Photo Courtesy: John Keller/Tri-City Americans
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KENNEWICK, Wash. – One night after a home loss to the Lethbridge Hurricanes, the Wenatchee Wild were hoping a streak of good luck on the road would continue with a visit to the Tri-City Americans Saturday. The road team in the matchup had won every one of the four meetings this season, and all of the last six dating back to last season.
The pattern continued at Toyota Center in Kennewick as the Wild snagged a 4-2 win, taking the lead on three separate occasions. Tye Spencer highlighted the game with his first goal in a Wenatchee uniform, while Brendan Gee closed the night with 25 saves and his fourth win of the season.
Wenatchee gained the first foothold with a wrist shot from Evan Friesen down the slot just 5:26 into the game, beating Lukas Matecha low for a 1-0 lead. With four minutes left in the first period, Jake Sloan tied the game with a turnaround throw to the back post from the left-wing circle, sending the teams to the dressing room even at 1-1.
They went to the dressing room tied again after the second – Luka Shcherbyna fed a pass from the trapezoid to Spencer for the go-ahead goal, with Spencer tapping home the chance at the 6:52 mark. At 9:29, Brandon Whynott scored one of his own on the doorstep, off a pass from Gavin Garland, evening up the score again.
Deagan McMillan’s goal with 5:50 to go was the difference-maker – one night after earning his first Western Hockey League goal, Grant Reid found McMillan for a backdoor tap-in, giving the Wild a 3-2 lead. With 57.3 seconds to play, Miles Cooper forced a turnover in the Tri-City slot and fed the puck to Dawson Seitz nearby to deposit into the empty net, sealing the Wenatchee victory.
Shaun Rios saw a five-game point streak wind down Saturday, but Shcherbyna closed the night with an assist, running his point-scoring streak to four straight games. Cooper finished the game with a pair of assists, extending his own point streak to three games in a row and helping Wenatchee improve to 16-21-3-1 on the season.
Matecha wrapped up the game with 25 saves of his own, as the Americans slipped to 21-16-3-1 for the year. The penalty-killing units were as stingy as ever, wiping away all six power plays in the game between the teams.
The Wild return to home ice on Sunday for Multicultural Night against the Americans, with the opening puck drop at Town Toyota Center slated for 4 p.m. Tickets for that game and all regular-season 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 1 1 2 – 4
Tri-City 1 1 0 – 2
1st Period-1, Wenatchee, Friesen 20 (Cooper, McCloskey), 5:26. 2, Tri-City, Sloan 13 (Curran, Anisimovicz), 16:00. Penalties-Goldsmith Tc (cross checking), 1:24.
2nd Period-3, Wenatchee, Spencer 10 (Shcherbyna, Dunphy), 6:52. 4, Tri-City, Whynott 21 (Garland, MacAdams), 9:29. Penalties-Mannix Wen (holding), 11:38; McCloskey Wen (slew-footing, slew-footing), 19:36.
3rd Period-5, Wenatchee, McMillan 5 (Reid, Shcherbyna), 14:10. 6, Wenatchee, Dawson Seitz 10 (Cooper), 19:02 (EN). Penalties-Curran Tc (roughing), 5:48; Sloan Tc (tripping), 11:41; Rios Wen (roughing), 20:00; Goldsmith Tc (roughing, roughing), 20:00.
Shots on Goal-Wenatchee 7-13-9-29. Tri-City 10-10-7-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Wenatchee 0 / 3; Tri-City 0 / 3.
Goalies-Wenatchee, Gee 4-3-0-0 (27 shots-25 saves). Tri-City, Matecha 16-9-2-1 (28 shots-25 saves).
A-4,337
Referees-Connor McCracken (54), Jake Podann (8).
Linesmen-Brayden Cameron (127), Mitchell Gibbs (142).
