WENATCHEE, WA–In front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Town Toyota Center, the Wenatchee Wild scored six straight times in a 7-2 win over the Bismarck Bobcats Friday night.
A night that started with promise for the Bobcats eroded on back-to-back high sticking penalties that delivered a five-on-three power play to Wenatchee, leading to the first goal. A Bobcat team that arrived in Wenatchee at 4:00 a.m. the night before struggled to get their legs after the first.
Stanislav Dzakhov (Moscow, Russia) floated in a power-play goal for an early Bobcat lead at 5:08 of the first, a goal countered by Matthew Nuttle’s one-timer in the crease that followed the first of three high-sticking calls against the Bobcats in the period. The goal came after back-to-back high sticking calls against Dzakhov and Nate Repensky (Duluth, MN), creating a five-on-three.
Tanner Salsberry (Plainfield, IL) cleaned up a Seth Blair (Bismarck, ND) rebound, turning the lead back to the Bobcats at 16:32. Brendan Harris then re-directed a Nuttle blast from the point to tie the game, a deadlock extending to the intermission.
Wenatchee dominated the rest of the way. Goals by Joseph Kaszupski, James Mathias, and Jakob Ahlgren chased Bobcat netminder Aaron Nelson (Bismarck, ND) from the game in the second. Alex Rauter and Nicolas Rivera added power-play goals in the third to seal the score.
The Bobcats face Wenatchee again Saturday night, with faceoff scheduled at 9:05 p.m. Pregame coverage begins at 8:40 p.m. on Supertalk 1270, KLXX.