Wenatchee Wild sweeps Fresno Monsters

WENATCHEE, Wash. - Max McHugh (Edgewood, Wash.) scored two goals for the second night in a row, leading the Wenatchee Wild to a 2-game sweep over the Fresno Monsters with a 4-2 win Saturday before 3,707 fans at the Town Toyota Center. 

Just like they did the night before, the Wild played aggressively in the first period and held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play on McHugh's third goal of this weekend's series. McHugh's lamp-lighter, which was scored from the top of the far faceoff circle with 9:04 left in the frame, came during a 3-on-2 rush into the offensive zone. Jono Davis (La Verne, Calif.) picked up the lone assist when he set up the goal on a drop pass. 

Davis' assist was a big one as it gave him 58 points on the season, a single-season franchise best. Davis passed up Ben Carey, who recorded 57 points last season. 

"Jono's a kid that has a lot of ability," said Wenatchee Wild head coach Bliss Littler. "When he gets opportunities he knows what to do with it." 

Wenatchee went on to take a 2-0 lead 3:19 into the second period when David Mead (Conklin, N.Y.) scored on a shot from the near point that was deflected on its way to the cage.

Derick Kuchera (Eagan, Minn.) and McHugh assisted on the play after the Wild won a faceoff in the Fresno zone. 

The Monsters got back into the game late in the second period when Kyle Sucher scored a power-play goal with 14 seconds left before the second intermission. Karl Andersen and Trevor Husch assisted. 

Wenatchee went up 3-1 a little over three minutes into the final period when Evan Schmidbauer (Surrey, British Columbia) scored from point-blank range. Blake Butzow (Plymouth, Mich.) and Nathan Flynn (Hastings, Minn.) earned the assists on Schmidbauer's 12th goal of the season. Schmidbauer is enjoying his best season with the Wild, racking up 12 goals, eight assists and 20 points. He is also plus-7 on the season. 

Husch made it a 1-goal game at the 5:28 mark of the third period on assists from linemates Sucher and Andersen.

The Wild got that goal back, taking a 4-2 lead a few minutes later when McHugh scored his second goal of the game and his fourth goal in this weekend's series. Robert Nichols (Dallas, Texas) made 18 saves on 20 shots to improve his season record to 31-13-3.

The Wild threw 50 pucks at Fresno netminder Tomas Sholl, 46 of which he was able to save. points apiece. 

The Wild (38-14-6) and Monsters will close out the regular season with a 2-game rematch this weekend (Friday and Saturday) at the Selland Arena in Fresno, Calif. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7:35 p.m.