After being outscored a combined 15-4 in the first two meetings with the Wenatche Wild, Salmon Arm took things right down to the wire in the Town Toyota Center.
On Teddy Bear Toss night the Wild jumped out to the lead courtesy of a shorthanded marker. Defenceman Brandon Koch jumped into the play, and was able to bang in a rebound to make the flufflies fly. The goal was shorthanded which gave Wenatchee sole lead of shorthanded tallies with eight. The Wild had nearly scored eight minutes in, but a good backcheck from Nick Unruh was able to lift the stick of the Wild forward at the last second.
Three minutes later Salmon Arm replied to even the game. Logan Shaw was sprung on a breakaway, and was stopped with a defender on his back. A penalty was upcoming, but John Little picked up the rebound and slid the puck into the net for his second goal of the season. The point ended a ten game point drought for both Shaw and Little.
It didn’t take Wenatchee long to retake the lead in the middle period. On a two-on-one with Lucas Sowder, Murphy Stratton took a feed from the Wild captain and picked the top right corner for his sixth goal of the season just 16 seconds in.
Immediately after the media timeout, Salmon Arm tied things up again with Hudson Schandor picking up his ninth of the season. Streaking down the left wing, the forward was able to snap a shot just inside the right post evening the game at 2-2. With less than two minutes on the clock, Wenatchee struck again with Cristophe Fillion scoring to give Wenatchee a 3-2 lead.
After receiving just three power plays in the first two games against Wenatchee combined, Salmon Arm went to their fourth man advantage of the game in the third. A perfect cross ice feed went from Nick Unruh to Justin Wilson and the 20 year old tied the game with his seventh point in seven games since returning from injury.
Coming into the game, Wenatchee was five for eight on the power play against Salmon Arm. They were shutdown in the Town Toyota Centre going zero for four. The biggest shorthanded save for Langenegger came with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game. He was able to kick out his left leg at the last second and prevent Wenatchee from going ahead in the game.
In overtime both teams traded chances, but the Wild’s leading goal scorere came up clutch. From his knees in the corner, Lucas Sowder sent a sent a puck to the front of the net for Matt Gosiewski to bang home for his 22nd of the year.
Salmon Arm returns to the Shaw Centre for the rest of the weekend for a pair of games. They will host Cowichan Valley Saturday night for the annual teddy bear toss, and Sunday will have the Vernon Vipers rolling into town where the Silverbacks aim to go 5-0 against their divisional opponents.
