Wild's February struggles continue with 6-2 loss to Silvertips despite Power Play efforts

WENATCHEE – The Wenatchee Wild wrapped up the month of January with a victory, but the team’s recent quest has been to continue that success into February. That quest will continue with the team’s road trip to Vancouver Saturday, as a sturdy Everett power play netted three goals Friday in the Silvertips’ 6-2 win over the Wild in a Western Hockey League U.S. Division get-together. Wenatchee enjoyed some success on the power play itself, getting a power play tally from Hayden Moore late in the second period.

Everett opened the scoring with a power play tally 7:31 into the contest, when Hayden Smith’s shot from above the faceoff circles was jousted into the net by Ben Hemmerling. Austin Roest’s shot from the right-wing boards was redirected into the net by Jesse Heslop with 7:26 left in the period, but Evan Friesen rattled home a shot with 3:15 left in the period to trim the lead to 2-1 at the break.

The Silvertips recaptured the momentum on Beau Courtney’s second-chance goal 47 seconds out of the intermission, and a pair of power play goals from Dominik Rymon at 5:29 and Teague Patton 8:05 into the period stretched the Everett lead to four goals.

Wenatchee got its power play marker with five minutes to go in the period, when Moore threw a shot into the net from mid-slot to cut the lead to 5-2 after two periods. Teague Patton collected the puck in front of the Wild net and hit the top corner of the cage with 11:47 to go in the third to close the scoring for the evening.

“I was a little disappointed in our effort tonight,” said Wild assistant coach Andrew Sarauer. “They were pushing the pace against us all night, and they’ve got a really good team with good structure. We were looking to create some offense and get something going, and we’d turn it over at the blue line. It was a back-and-forth game, and when you play north-south like that all night against a team like Everett, they’re going to capitalize on their chances. We just couldn’t get anything going – they don’t give up a lot, and when you turn the puck over it’s going to end up in your end, and in your net a lot of times.”

Briley Wood hauled in assists on both goals for Wenatchee’s sole multi-point showing, while Friesen stretched his point streak to 12 straight games, the fourth Wild player to accomplish that feat this season. Graham Sward and Kenta Isogai both had assists as well, giving them points in all six matchups against the Silvertips thus far. Patton led the scoring for Everett with two goals and an assist, followed by Hemmerling with a goal and two assists.

Tyler Palmer picked up the win in net, stopping 12 Wenatchee shots, while Daniel Hauser took the loss on 29 saves. The teams combined to go 4-for-8 on the power play, with the Wild finishing 1-for-3. Wenatchee dropped to 27-20-4-0 on the season while the Silvertips climbed to 34-17-1-2 with Friday’s win.