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WHL Wenatchee Wild

Isogai Bookends Saturday Contest with Goals as Wild Hold off Brandon in Shootout, 4-3

October 21, 2023 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release


Wenatchee Wild's Kenta Isogai
Wenatchee Wild's Kenta Isogai
(Wenatchee Wild, Credit: Russ Alman/Wenatchee Wild)

WENATCHEE, Wash. - After an eight-game stretch on the road, it turns out some time on home ice may be just what the Wenatchee Wild needed.

The Wild and Brandon Wheat Kings combined for three power play goals Saturday night, and the Wild held off their visitors from the Western Hockey League's East Division for a 4-3 shootout victory, locking down the weekend sweep at Town Toyota Center after shutting out the Vancouver Giants 4-0 on Friday.

A first-period penalty kill helped get the special teams off to a good start for Wenatchee - Briley Wood's transition shot from the left half was kicked out by Carson Bjarnason, and Kenta Isogai cleaned up the rebound for the 1-0 lead with 5:18 remaining in the period. Brett Hyland slipped a shot underneath Brendan Gee three minutes later, though, and the Wheat Kings went to the locker room with a 1-1 tie.

Conor Geekie needed only 20 seconds to take advantage of a hooking call to Brandon's Matt Henry in the second period to put the Wild back in front, sprinting into the Wheat Kings zone and tossing a sharp-angle chance past Bjarnason for a 2-1 lead just before the five-minute mark of the period.

A pair of power play goals turned the tide for the visitors in the third period - Hyland scored his second of the night at 2:55 of the period, while Andrei Maliavin sprinted end-to-end to put one past Gee at 5:24 of the period to give the Wheat Kings their first lead. Brandon's only lead of the night lasted all of 70 seconds, as Wood let fly with a shot from the right wing on the rush to tie the game at the 6:34 mark.

Brandon got four shots in the overtime to Wenatchee's one, but Isogai was the only one to score in the shootout, sending one between Bjarnason's pads in the opening round.

Wood and Geekie each finished with a goal and an assist, while Graham Sward added to his team-best scoring total with two assists. Brendan Gee got into the scoring mix as well, adding an assist on to a 30-save performance for the win in his WHL home debut. Sward's point-scoring streak rose to 10 straight games to start off the year, while Wood saw his point streak extended to nine outings in a row.

Bjarnason stopped 41 Wenatchee shots in the loss, as Hyland's two goals and Nate Danielson's two assists highlighted the Wheat Kings offense. Wenatchee was 1-for-5 on the power play while Brandon was 2-for-5, and the Wild held a 34-20 edge at the faceoff dot.

Wenatchee continues a stretch of six games out of seven at home on Tuesday when the Kamloops Blazers visit Town Toyota Center for a Tuesday night game presented by iFIBER, with the puck drop slated for 6 p.m. It will be Kamloops's first-ever visit to Wenatchee.

Tickets for that game and all Wenatchee Wild home regular-season contests are on sale now 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, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

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Images from this story

Wenatchee Wild's Kenta Isogai
Wenatchee Wild's Kenta Isogai
(Russ Alman/Wenatchee Wild)		   



Western Hockey League Stories from October 21, 2023


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