Township of Langley- March 8, 2016- The Wenatchee Wild took game three in a wild 7-6 overtime game at George Preston Recreation Centre on Tuesday night. It marked the second straight game that needed an extra period. Bo Didur started in net for the Rivermen, while Garrett Nieto got the call for the Wild.
Wenatchee would get on the board first scoring at 4:38 with a power play goal from Jack Combs. Less than two minutes later, Combs scored his second of the evening to make it 2-0 for the visitors. After John Schuldt was stopped by Nieto on a two on one, Daniel Nachbaur went the other way on a breakaway and slid a backhand shot along the ice to beat Didur. That would spell the end for the Langley goaltender who allowed three goals on nine shots. Nick Trencianksy would come off the bench in relief. Combs would cap off the first period hat-trick on Trencianksy’s first shot against and put his team up 4-0 with 6:29 to play. With the Rivermen looking to get back in the game, Jason O’Neill scored his first of the series after firing in a one-time shot near the right post that Nieto got a piece of, but not enough. Less than two minutes later, during a Langley power play, Torrin White notched his third goal of the playoffs to get his team to within a pair of goals. The 20 year-old received a perfect pass from Matty Saharchuk from behind the goal and beat Nieto beneath the glove. Nieto would be pulled in favour of Chase Perry. After a wild 20 minutes, the Wild led 4-2 and had the shot count 15-11
In the second, Ryan Barrow put the Rivermen to within a goal after scoring his first career BCHL tally at the 6:36 mark. After a great stickhandling display by Max Kaufman, Barrow received a pass on the right wing and stuffed the puck in past Perry. Just over a minute later, Torrin White scored his second of the game on a Rivermen power play to tie it up at 4-4. After good puck movement around the perimeter, Will Campion fired a cross ice pass from the right-wing and found the stick of White, who made no mistake beating the Wild goaltender. However, the deadlock would not last for very long, as the Wild got back to back goals from Matthew Baker and August Von Ungern and took a two goal advantage into the third period.
Four minutes into the third period, Matthew Graham scored his second of the series with a highlight reel goal. The Bedford, Nova Scotia native took a pass entering the attacking zone and executed a toe drag move around the defenseman and roofed the puck to the top right corner on the backhand. It was Graham’s second of the series. After many golden scoring opportunities to tie the game, Justin Szeto picked the perfect time to score his first goal of the playoffs. The Harvard commit took a great feed from Dominic Franco down the right-wing and buried it into the yawning net and evened up the score at 6-6. For a second straight game, overtime was needed.
In the extra frame, the Wild won it just 18 seconds in with a goal from Kyle Stephan, who banked a pass off a skate in front of the Rivermen net that beat Trenciansky.
Graham, White, O’Neill, and Masson all had multi-point efforts in the loss. Nick Trencianksy was the goaltender of record stopping 20 of 24 shots put his way. Chase Perry picked up the win turning aside 21 of 25 shots.
The Wild take a 2-1 series lead into game four that goes on Wednesday, March 9 at George Preston Recreation Centre at 7:00pm.
