Mckee Bests Wild In Shootout
Published on January 20, 2013 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
WENATCHEE, Wash. - Nick McKee was the key for the FresnoMonsters. The 20-year-old forward from Bakersfield, Calif. recorded a hat trickin regulation before notching the game-winning goal in a shootout to give theMonsters a 4-3 victory Saturday over the Wenatchee Wild at the Town ToyotaCenter.
McKee scored his first goal of the game near the midpoint ofthe first period on a 5-hole shot during a 2-on-1 to stake the Monsters to a1-0 lead. Jacob Barber (Dardenne Prairie,Mo.) had a golden opportunity to tie up the contest while his team wasshorthanded when he stole the puck near the Fresno blue line and skated inalone against Macauley Haight, but the goalie was up to the challenge andturned away the shot.
Jono Davis (LaVerne, Calif.) did tie up the game for the Wild 2:18 into the second periodwhen he tapped in a rebound from the near side of the cage during a power play.Noah Nelson (Oconomowoc, Wis.) and Josh Hartley (Coquitlam, BritishColumbia) picked up the assists on Davis' 22nd goal of the season,which brought the crowd of nearly 3,900 to their feet. The Wild had a shortened2-man power play a few minutes later, but couldn't score the go-ahead goal.
Fresno reclaimed the lead with 11:13 left in the secondperiod when McKee knocked in his second goal of the game off a shot from thepoint by Kyle Buffardi that clanked off the post. Ian Janco also assisted.
The Wild forced the second tie of the game, 2-2, with 6:03left to play in the second stanza when Barber jammed in a centering feed fromDavis from the slot. But like he did all game, McKee deflated the Wild onceagain when he gave the Monsters a 3-2 lead 38 seconds later when he stuck histhird goal of the game into the cage. Justin Plate assisted.
The only goal scored in the third period belonged to theWild when Nathan Flynn (Hastings, Minn.)launched a blistering wrist shot from the near circle that whistled high andstick side past Haight with 4:26 left in regulation. Nicholas Kuchera (Eagan, Minn.) set up the goal with a deftcross-ice pass to Flynn.
The game went to a shootout after a scoreless 5-minuteovertime session. McKee was Fresno's first player off the bench in theshootout, and he scored on his backhand to put his team up 1-0. McKee'sshootout goal would count as the eventual game-winner after the Wild wereunable to get a puck past Haight in the shootout.
Nick Schmit (Fargo,N.D.) and Robert Nichols (Dallas,Texas) combined to make 22 saves on 25 shots for the Wild. Haight denied 41 ofWenatchee's 44 shots.
The Wild scored one power-play goal on four chances whileFresno went 0-for-4 on the man-advantage.
The Wild (26-6-4) will play their next six games at homebeginning with a 3-game series against the Kenai River Brown Bears next week(Jan. 24-26). The first game of the series, on Thursday, will begin at 6:35 p.m.Games 2 and 3 of the series, on Friday and Saturday, are both scheduled tostart at 7:05 p.m.
North American Hockey League Stories from January 20, 2013
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