Americans escape Wenatchee with 3-2 victory Sunday

WENATCHEE – After two Wenatchee Wild goals 56 seconds apart in the third period, the Wild forced the Tri-City Americans to put up a stingy defensive effort down the stretch to escape town with two points Sunday evening. Goals from Reid Andresen and Shaun Rios put the Wild in the thick of their U.S. Division battle at Town Toyota Center, but the Americans only allowed four shots on goal in the third period to survive with a 3-2 victory. The win was the eighth straight for a road team in the head-to-head series, after the home team took the win in the first six games between the clubs last year.

Tri-City needed three chances at the net to earn its first goal of the night, with Cruz Pavao putting away a rebound at the 4:32 mark to give the Ams a 1-0 advantage. They doubled the lead at 10:13 when Jake Sloan wristed a shot from the left-wing circle to the back post, just seconds after sweeping away a puck that had settled behind Lukas Matecha at the Americans’ end, only inches above the goal line.

Four minutes into the third, the Americans pushed the lead to three goals when Savin Virk batted in a second chance out of mid-air in front of the net, but that was as far as Tri-City was able to stretch its advantage. At 5:15, five seconds into a hooking penalty to Nick Anisimovicz, Andresen slung a wrist shot from the blue line down the slot and past Matecha to trim the lead to 3-1. Just 56 seconds later, Rios tipped in a shot from Luka Shcherbyna to get the Ams’ lead down to 3-2. Wenatchee got four minutes of power play time in the third, and a minute of 6-on-5 time in the Americans’ zone, but was never able to tie the game again.

Brendan Gee took a no-decision in the start for the Wild, making three saves on Tri-City’s first five shots. Alex Garrett was tagged for a hard-luck loss, making 18 saves on 19 chances. Shcherbyna extended his point streak to five straight appearances with the assist, and Wenatchee finished 1-for-4 on the power play, but fell to 16-22-3-1 with the loss.

Tri-City came up empty on its only power play of the night, but got 23 saves from Matecha for his 17th win of the season. The Americans climbed to 22-16-3-1 with the win, one point back of Vancouver for sixth in the Western Conference standings.

A four-game homestand, and a stretch of seven games out of eight on home ice, continues on Friday for Superheroes & Princesses Night against the Everett Silvertips. The opening puck drop at Town Toyota Center is slated for 7 p.m. Tickets for that game and all regular-season home games are on sale now by phone at 509-888-7825, or by visiting the team office at Town Toyota Center. Updated news and information on Wild hockey are always available through the team’s website and on the team’s social media platforms on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.