Barber nets first goal in narrow Wild loss
WENATCHEE - Recently acquired forward Jacob Barber (Dardenne Prairie, Mo.) scored his first goal in a Wenatchee Wild sweater, but Matt Friese's marker, which was scored with three seconds left in regulation, led the Alaska Avalanche to a 3-2 victory over the Wild Saturday night at the Town Toyota Center.
Avalanche defenseman Daniel Senkbeil drew first blood 10:32 into the first period when he scored on a shot from the blue line with heavy traffic in front of him. Alaska held the lead until the 16:08 mark of the second stanza when Barber ripped a shot past Avalanche netminder Nick Kulmanovsky from the slot after receiving a lob pass from Michael Di Puma (Chicago, Ill.) from the blue line. Defenseman Cody von Rueden also assisted.
Alaska took the lead, 2-1, just over two minutes into the final frame on Matt Friese's unassisted even strength goal. The lead lasted just three minutes and 15 seconds when Shawn Pauly (Bellingham, Wash.) deflected in a D.J. Vandercook (Farmington Hills, Mich.) shot from the far wall. Friese's game-winning goal, scored shorthanded with three seconds remaining in regulation, came on a rebound that was tapped into the net by Friese.
Greg Lewis made 25 saves on 28 shots in his first start in a Wild uniform. Kulmanovsky made 26 saves on 28 shots to earn his first win with the Avalanche. Both teams struggled on the power play. Wenatchee went 0-for-5 on the man-advantage while Alaska went 0-for-3.
Friese scored two third-period goals for the Avs while Senkbeil scored a goal and an assist.
Also, team captain D.J. Vandercook (Farmington Hills, Mich.) lifted the Wenatchee Wild into second place in the West Division when he notched the only goal in a shootout Friday night at the Town Toyota Center to give the Wild a 4-3 victory over the Avalanche.
Zach Smith put the Avalanche up 8:38 into the contest when he scored a shorthanded breakaway goal on his backhand. The Wild tied up the contest with 98 seconds remaining in the first stanza when Ben Carey (Centennial, Colo.) lit the lamp on a rebound off of Di Puma's shot. However, forward Wehebe Darge sent the Avalanche to the locker room for the first intermission with a 2-1 lead after he scored on his backhand on a rebound right in front of the Wild cage.
Di Puma figured in on his second goal of the night at the 8:30 into the second frame to force a 2-2 tie when he scored top shelf from the bottom of the far circle on a rebound off of Kyle Huson's (Parker, Colo.) shot.
The score remained tied, 2-2, until the 4:59 mark of the third frame when Carl-Johan Sjogren (Tumba, Sweden) scored from the slot on a bang-bang play from Vandercook. Wenatchee held the lead until former Wild forward Eliot Grauer forced overtime when he banged in the equalizer from right in front of the net with three seconds remaining in regulation.
After a scoreless overtime session, Vandercook, the Wild's final participant in the shootout, beat Avalanche netminder Landon Peterson stick side with a wicked shot from between the circles.
Brandon Jaeger (Champlin, Minn.), who refused to give up a goal in the shootout, played a very strong game. Jaeger made 25 saves on 28 shots to earn his 18th win of the season. Peterson made 30 saves on 33 shots. The Wild scored one power play goal on six chances while Alaska failed to score on its only man-advantage of the game.
Di Puma led the Wild with a goal and an assist. For Alaska, Smith scored a goal and added an assist while Daniel Senkbeil recorded two assists.
Wenatchee (25-16-3), which fell back into third place in the West Division with Saturday's loss, will travel to Fresno for a 2-game series against the Monsters on Thursday and Friday. Faceoff is slated for 7:05 Thursday night and 7:35 Friday night.