Wild Outskates Prince George

Wenatchee, WA. – For the fourth straight game it was 2-0 after one, but unlike the other three it was the Wenatchee Wild on top and they rode that lead to a 6-1 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings Friday night, in front of 3,221 fans at the Town Toyota Center.

Joe Drabin (Rochester, NY) scored first, firing home a deflected shot from the right circle. Dakota Raabe (Dana Point, CA) and Konsta Jaske (Samammish, WA) assisted at 10:39, giving the Wild a 1-0 lead. Then, at 13:36, Troy Conzo (Nesconset, NY) banged home a rebound in tight, assisted by Brandon Puricelli (St. Louis, MO) and August Von Ungern (Boise, ID), putting Wenatchee on top 2-0 after one.

The Spruce Kings got on the board early in the second, as Ben Poisson scored. Braiden Epp and Parker Colley assisted at 1:36, cutting the Wild lead to 2-1. However, that was as close as Prince George would get. Raabe would flip home a short pass from Charlie Combs (St. Louis, MO) and Tyler Rockwell (San Jose, CA) at 7:17, giving Wenatchee a 3-1 advantage through two.

In the third, the Wild would ring the bell three times to put the game away. Combs roofed a backhander home from the slot-side of the right circle at 1:20, assisted by Blake Christensen (Lauderhill, FL) and Brendan Harris (Las Vegas, NV), putting Wenatchee up 4-1. Colin Burston (Winnipeg, MB) then scored from Combs and Kyle Stephan (Barrie, ON) at 3:27, upping the Wild lead to 5-1. Finally, at 11:12, Stephan scored from Burston and Jaske, sending Wenatchee on their way to the 6-1 win.

The Wild outshot the Spruce Kings 32-17 for the game. Chase Perry (Andover, MN) made 16 saves for Wenatchee, while Liam McCloskey and Joseph McLeod combined to make 26 saves for Prince George. The Wild went 2-for-4 on the power play and 3-of-3 on the penalty kill. “All around, pretty good effort.” said Wenatchee Wild Head Coach/General Manager Bliss Littler. “Any time you score six goals you’re fortunate. We had good goaltending, scored a couple of power play goals, penalty kill was good. All the way around I thought all six D played well. We rolled four lines all night, so I was pleased with the effort. I know we’ll need a big effort to collect both points tomorrow night.”

With their season-high sixth straight win, Wenatchee improves to 30-15-2-3 on the season; the Spruce Kings slip to12-36-3-1. The Wild remains home to host Prince George again on Saturday, February 13^th, 7:05pm at the Town Toyota Center. Wenatchee then travels to Surrey to meet the Eagles at 4:00pm on Sunday, February 14^th.

Battle For The Border