The Trail Smoke Eaters earned 3-of-4 points from the Wenatchee Wild on the weekend, winning 3-2 in a dramatic shootout on Saturday at the Town Toyota Centre.
The win is the first in three of four straight games against the Wild, starting with a 3-2 loss on Wednesday in Trail, followed by a 5-4 shootout loss on Friday in Wenatchee.
In Saturday’s match, the Smoke Eaters trailed 2-0 in the third but battled back to tie it and force overtime.
The Smoke Eaters dominated the extra frame outshooting Wenatchee 5-2. Mathieu Cobetto-Roy almost finished it, as he broke in on the Wild goal and beat goalie Owen Millward, but the puck hit the inside of the post and somehow stayed out.
In the shootout, Smoke Eater forward Josh Schenk was the first shooter and he scored on his patented breakaway move to go up 1-0.
Smoke Eater’s goalie Teagan Kendrick, who made 48 saves on the night, stoned the Wild’s Parker Murray.
Trail forward Brady Hunter then skated in wide and fired a shot past Wenatchee goalie Owen Millward for what turned out to be the game winning goal, as Kendrick stopped Ean Somoza, the second Wild shooter, to ensure the 3-2 victory.
After a scoreless first period, Wenatchee took a 1-0 lead on a goal from Luke Welland with 4:13 to play in the second frame.
The Wild made it 2-0, when Micah Berger beat Kendrick just 26 seconds into the third, on a set up from Christian Kim and Cade Littler.
But Trail battled back, with Cobetto-Roy tallying his seventh of the season 7:38 in. Then with 4:24 to play, Hunter wired a Cobetto-Roy pass by Millward to tie it.
Despite a flurry of penalties in the third, including one with just over two minutes remaining, Kendrick weathered 20 shots in the final stanza to keep the Smoke Eaters relevant.
Wenatchee outshot Trail 50-40, with the Smoke Eaters going 1-for-4 on the power play, and a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
The win comes a day after the Wild celebrated a 5-4 shootout victory over Trail on Friday night, ensuring a split with their Interior Conference rivals.
The Smoke Eaters made a valiant comeback from a 3-0 first period deficit on second-period goals from Hunter and Cobetto-Roy to cut the lead to one heading into the third.
David Hejduk made it 4-2 Wenatchee at 7:41, but a goal from Quinn Disher at 11:49 cut the lead to one and set up a dramatic finish.
Hejduk was sent off for holding with 68 seconds remaining, and Hunter tied it on an gutsy individual effort with 17 seconds remaining in regulation to send it to overtime.
Wenatchee dominated in the OT, but Smokies goalie Keegan Maddocks stopped seven shots to send it to a shootout.
After stopping the first shot, Somoza beat Maddocks for the lone goal, and Wild goalie Andy Vlaha stymied all three Trail shooters for the 5-4 win.
Wenatchee outshot Trail 47-32 and went 1-for-11 on the power play, while the Smoke Eaters were 2-for-4.
The 9-11-1-2 Smoke Eaters are tied with Vernon for sixth place in the Interior Conference, just one point ahead of the 9-10-0-2 Wild.
Trail is back in action on Friday, Dec. 2 when they host the Wild at the Trail Memorial Centre with the puck drop at 7 p.m.