The Wenatchee Wild strutted their stuff in Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Cranbrook Bucks.
Wenatchee jumped out to a strong start in the first period, goals from Michael Valdez and Luke Weilandt gave the Wild a 2-0 lead through most of the opening frame. The Bucks got one back from Donovan Frias at the 17:48 mark to cut Wenatchee’s lead to 2-1 by intermission.
The Bucks briefly jumped into a 2-2 tie in the early stages of the second period Jack Silich’s 14th goal of the season. The tie was short lived and the Wild didn’t look back. Wenatchee’s Micah Berger broke the tie at 12:27 after putting on a stickhandling display deep in the Bucks zone to lift his team to a 3-2 lead. Cranbrook found themselves down one goal at intermission once again.
The Wild were able to put the game away in the third period with a pair of goals from Cade Littler. The Bucks outshot Wenatchee 11-9 in the third period, but they were unable to solve Wild goalie Andy Vlaha, and Wenatchee secured a 5-2 win to push their winning streak to four games.
Saturday’s loss drops Cranbrook’s record to 11-7-1. The Bucks were outshot 36-26 by Wenatchee. On special teams, Cranbrook’s power play finished 0/5, their penalty kill was 4/4.
The Bucks will look to get back in the win column on the road Friday versus Vernon.
Buck Tracks:
- Donovan Frias pushes point streak to 6 games.
- 3-7 all time record for Bucks vs Wild through 10 games.
Lead photo by Martin Ross
