WENATCHEE, WA: Cade Stibbe scored the overtime winner 4:50 into the extra frame to give the Wenatchee Wild a 3-2 victory over the Salmon Arm Silverbacks in Game 3 of the best of seven series. Daniel Panetta and Isaac Lambert found the scoresheet in the loss. Game 4 will go tomorrow at
The Silverbacks gave up a couple of grade-A scoring chances in the early stages of the first period. Parker Murray found himself open in the left circle and let it fly, but Owen Say was equal to the task stopping him with the left pad. The Wild got the first powerplay of the hockey game when Defnceman Lucas Matta got the gate for hooking. The Silverbacks successfully killed it off, thanks to a couple of stops by Say in tight. Shortly after Matta exited the box, the Wild were put back on the powerplay. This time, Tucker Hartmann off for hooking. The Wild, again, could not cash in. Forty-five seconds after the penalty expired, the Wild opened the scoring. Jakob Karpa let a shot go from the right point, and it was tipped in front by Cade Littler and past Say for his 2nd of the playoffs. The Silverbacks got a powerplay of their own when Murray was called for hooking. They could not get set up much at all, and it was actually the Wild having a chance as Somoza dashed into the offensive zone, but Say stopped him. The Silverbacks began to push back late in the opening frame with opportunities from Zack Smith and Noah Serdachny, but Wild goaltender Andy Vlaha was up to the task keeping it a 1-0 lead. The Wild got their third powerplay of the period when Hartmann went off for interference. The Wild outshot the Backs 15-12 in the opening twenty minutes.
The Wild began the period with a brief 24-second powerplay to start the second period. The Backs then proceeded to get a powerplay very early in the period when David Hejduk got called for holding. The Silverbacks sustained tremendous pressure and puck control the entire 2:00 but could not solve Vlaha. After the unsuccessful powerplay, Matta and Littler went off with coincidental penalties, resulting in 4 on 4 hockey. The Wild took advantage of the extra ice as Anthony Cafarelli made a short pass to Wild Captain Quinn Emerson, and he snapped a shot under the blocker of Say to double to Wild lead. The Silverbacks finally solved Vlaha with just over five minutes left in the period. Tucker Hartmann took a shot off the pad of Vlaha, and the Captain was there to clean up the rebound cutting the lead in half. The goal was Panetta’s second of the postseason. The Wild got yet another powerplay late in the period when Smith went off for cross-checking. However, that powerplay was short-lived as Littler was called for interference taking the Wild off the man-advantage. The Silverbacks outshot the Wild 19-14 in the middle frame.
The Silverbacks got their fourth powerplay of the game in the first two minutes of the final frame when Karpa went off for hooking. However, the Silverbacks could not cash in despite a couple of good chances. The shots began to pile up for the Backs as they tested Vlaha 29 times in the final two periods, and it was just a matter of time before they eventually tied the game. They did just that seven minutes into the third period as Isaac Lambert came streaking down the left wing and was able to snap a shot past Vlaha under the arm to tie the game at two. It was Lambert’s first of the postseason. Late in the third period, a scrum followed a whistle, and Noah Serdachny was the only one picked out of the bunch and was sent to the box for roughing, putting the Wild on their sixth powerplay of the evening. The Silverbacks nearly took their first lead of the game shorthanded when Wild Defenceman Mario Gasparini blew a tire at the blueline, sending rookie forward Ethan Ullrick in alone from the redline, but he missed the net. On that same penalty kill, the Backs had another opportunity as Smith sent Tassy in on a partial break, but he was denied by Vlaha, keeping the game tied at two. Both teams finished regulation 0/6 on the man-advantage, and Game 3 needed overtime for the first time this series.
In the overtime period, it was the Wild taking the game just under five minutes into the extra frame. Ean Somoza skated into the zone on a 2 on 1; he passed it back door to Cade Stibbe, and Owen Say made an incredible save, but Stibbe stuck with it and jammed home the winner. The win cuts the Silverbacks series lead to 2-1. Game 4 will go tomorrow night at 6:00 PM.
