The Salmon Arm Silverbacks evened the distance between themselves and the Wenatchee Wild last night, pushing the game into overtime and snagging a point in a hard-fought game.
The Silverbacks had a few rough games against the Wild earlier this season, taking a pair of losses as the Wild racked up 15 goals in the span of two games. During the Dec. 14 game at the Town Toyota Centre in Wenatchee, Washington, however, the Silverbacks game within one goal in the 4-3 overtime finish.
Wenatchee opened up the scoring at the 11-minute mark in the first, with Brandon Koch scoring for the Washington squad with a short-handed goal. The Silverbacks were quick to tie things up at 1-1 as Logan Shaw made a breakaway attempt and John Little scooped up the rebound and fired off his second goal of the season.
The stalemate held until just 16 seconds into the middle period, with Wenatchee’s Murphy Stratton picking up a goal right after the opening faceoff.
Related: Silverbacks lock down two wins in three games on the road
There was a timeout called partway through the second period, and immediately after the players were back out on the ice Salmon Arm brought the game back to a 2-2 tie. Hudson Schandor came fast down the left wing and snapped a shot into the Wenatchee net-minder’s right hand side for his ninth of the season.
Right at the end of the second, Wenatchee edged out another lead as Christophe Fillion put the Washington squad up 3-2.
After receiving just three power plays in their 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 took a great pass from Nick Unruh shot it in to tie the game with his seventh point in seven games since returning from an injury.
In overtime both teams traded chances, but the Wild’s leading goal scorer came out to play in a big way. From on his knees in the corner, Lucas Sowder sent a puck to the front of the net for Matt Gosiewski to bang home and lock down the victory for Wenatchee.
Tonight the Silverbacks face off against the Cowichan Valley Capitals at the Shaw Centre, puck drops at 7 p.m.
