Bears Fly As Wild Snap Skid With 6-5 Win

On a night designated as the “Teddy Bear Toss” game, fans came out and were treated to an entertaining contest that had lots of goals, plenty of excitement, and a victory for the home team as the Wild ended their three game losing streak with a thrilling 6-5 win over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks Friday night at Town Toyota Center.

In the second fastest Teddy Bear Toss goal in Wild history, Tyler Young backhanded the rebound of a Noah Lugli shot for a 1-0 Wild lead at 4:23 of the first, sending hundreds of bears and other stuffed animals iceward. The bears were collected efficiently, and play resumed to see Wenatchee score on a power play at 18:35 for a 2-0 lead as Brett Chorske snapped home his tenth of the year, punching a Brian Adams pass from the left side slot that beat the goalie low blocker side. Forty seconds later, Adams dug another puck out of the left-wing corner, teeing it up for Sam Morton who blistered it home on a one-timer for a 3-0 Wild lead heading into the first intermission.

Salmon Arm stole the momentum quickly in the second, as Lucas Breault and Simon Tassy scored 24 seconds apart in the first couple of minutes to make it a 3-2 game. Noah Wakeford tied it on a backhanded rebound swat, and Zach Gabruch collected a wayward puck and flung it through traffic to put the Silverbacks up 4-3 at the end of the second.

Salmon Arm held on to the lead until there was five minutes left to play. Wenatchee took their first penalty of the night, but :51 seconds into the penalty kill, Hunter Hastings was able to slip through on a breakaway where he ripped a shot into the high blocker side corner to tie the game at 4-4. Then, :28 seconds later lightning struck again as Brian Adams and Harrison Scott raced into the Silverbacks zone on a 2-on-1 rush. Adams crossing pass, intended for Scott hit a Salmon Arm defender and deflected into the net for a striking 5-4 Wild lead.

Wenatchee killed off the rest of the penalty, but 14 seconds after returning to full strength and with 2:40 left to play, the Wild were penalized again, giving the Silverbacks another power play chance, and this time, only 11 seconds into the man advantage, Salmon Arm scored to tie the game at 5-5 as Noah Wakeford got his second of the night, tipping a point shot from Tony Andreozzi.

With 3 goals scored between the teams in 94 seconds, fans sensed there may be more coming, and there was. Noah Lugli, a former Silverback who was acquired by Wenatchee via trade on Nov. 21, whipped his first goal of the season from the right point past his former teammate Ethan Langenegger to put Wenatchee back on top, 6-5. The goal was assisted by Tanner Main and Nick Cafarelli. The Silverbacks called timeout and pulled the goalie with 1:06 left to play but the Wild held fast to secure the victory.

The win for Wenatchee is officially the first for Interim Head Coach Chris Clark who accepted the position following the announcement last week that long-time bench boss Bliss Littler was choosing to step down from the bench while maintaining his position as General Manager. Clark also serves as Assistant GM.

Wenatchee (17-15-4) heads to West Kelowna on Saturday for a 6 pm matchup at Royal LePage Place . The game will be broadcast and streamed online with NewsRadio 560 KPQ, with the Pregame Show airing at 5:45 pm.

All recaps provided by Wenatchee Wild