Wild Lose Game 3 to Monsters in Overtime
April 18, 2013 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Wenatchee Wild News Release
FRESNO, Calif. - The Wenatchee Wild have pulled off quite a few dramatic comebacks this season. They'll need to summon their inner Comeback Kid in order to win their NAHL West Division semifinal playoff series after suffering a 2-1 overtime Game 3 loss to the Fresno Monsters Wednesday at the Gateway Ice Center in Fresno, Calif.
After 60 minutes of play Wednesday the Wild and Monsters mustered one goal apiece and headed into overtime. The Wild were penalized for slashing 6:41 into the extra session, which led to the game-winning goal. During their power play the Monsters' Trevor Husch entered the Wild zone down the left wing and slid a drop pass to Matt Salituro, who scored the game-winner from four feet inside the blue line. Mitchell Snyder also assisted on the game-winner.
The Wild dominated the first period of play Wednesday night, and were rewarded for their efforts when Evan Schmidbauer (Surrey, British Columbia) scored the first goal of the game at the 12:33 mark when he cleaned up a rebound. Tyler Bruneteau (Omaha, Neb.) picked up the assist on the sequence, which came during a very long possession in the offensive zone.
In spite of multiple other scoring chances the Wild were only able to take a 1-0 lead into the locker room at the first intermission.
The Monsters scored the only goal in the second period to force a 1-1 tie heading into the third period. During a 3-on-2, Dan Sherer scored on his backhand on helpers from Kyle Buffardi and Mark Bittner. The Wild had three power plays in the second period, but failed to score on all three chances.
The game went to overtime after a scoreless third period, setting the stage for Salituro's game-winner.
Wenatchee outshot the Monsters 38-28 in Game 3 and had more scoring chances. They went 0-for-3 on their power plays, all of which occurred in the second period. Fresno scored one power-play goal, Salituro's game-winner, on four tries.
To get back into the series the Wild will have to find a way to bury more of their chances against Fresno goaltender Tomas Sholl, who has been the difference-maker in his team's last two wins.
"We have to get in front of their net," said Wild head coach Bliss Littler. "We have to solve Sholl, he's the difference. We've outshot and out-chanced them all three games, and Sholl has been the difference for them.
"Our best players have to show up [Thursday] night," Littler continued, "and they have to be our best players."
Game 4 of the West Division semifinals between the Wild and Monsters is Thursday at Gateway Ice Center in Fresno, Calif. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. For a small fee, fans can watch Game 4 live by logging on to www.FASTHockey.com.
If necessary, the Wild will host Game 5 of the series at the Town Toyota Center Sunday. Faceoff for Game 5 is at 5:05 p.m.
• Discuss this story on the North American Hockey League message board...
North American Hockey League Stories from April 18, 2013
- Jordyn Kaufer Commits to Concordia College - Aberdeen Wings
- Monsters Could Close out Series Tonight - Fresno Monsters
- Tornado and Bulls Announce Second Round Dates - Texas Tornado
- Wild Lose Game 3 to Monsters in Overtime - Wenatchee Wild
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
