Shcherbyna leads Wenatchee comeback bid, but Wild fall short Friday

WENATCHEE  – Two goals early in the third period took some air out of the building at Town Toyota Center in Friday’s Western Hockey League tilt between the Wenatchee Wild and Tri-City Americans, but Wild forward Luka Shcherbyna took it upon himself to make sure the Ams didn’t take Wenatchee out of the game as well.

Shcherbyna scored two goals in Friday’s contest, and Noah Samanski picked up his first WHL goal, as the Wild took a 6-3 loss to Tri-City, the Americans’ fifth straight victory. Shcherbyna’s second goal of the game and Samanski’s goal came in a 17-second span of the third period, trimming a 5-1 margin back to just two goals with plenty of time to spare.

The game’s first goal came when Shcherbyna walked the puck to the left-wing faceoff dot before ripping a wrist shot past Lukas Matecha just 3:36 into the game. However, Gavin Garland tapped home a chance in front of the net just 80 seconds later, following up two Zach Zahara saves with his tying goal. At 8:53 of the period, Austin Zemlak’s shot from the left point found its way past the traffic at the net and in, giving Tri-City a 2-1 lead at the break.

With time winding down in the second period, the Ams added on with 2:55 left when Kale Margolis banked in a shot off a Wild skate. The lead went to 5-1 in the early minutes of the third on a goal from Jordan Gavin at 2:17 and a redirect from Brandon Whynott at 4:54 off a Kainoah Brankovic shot.

Then, the comeback bid was on. Shcherbyna’s shot from the left-wing dot hit the back of the net at the 7:51 mark, and Samanski controlled a tip off of his stick before driving it down the left wing and firing a successful shot at 8:08 of the period. Gavin finished a 2-on-1 toward the empty Wenatchee net with 2:05 left to make it a 6-3 game and finish the scoring for the evening.

“You’ve got to be proud of the guys,” said Wenatchee associate head coach Chris Clark. “To be down 5-1 and get it to 5-3, and make it a hockey game again, that was really encouraging to see. We just took too many undisciplined penalties tonight. You’re not going to win a hockey game taking nine penalties. I’m proud of the penalty kill for getting those things killed off, but when you spend a third of the game in the penalty box, it makes it really hard to win.”

Shcherbyna added an assist on Samanski’s goal, while Whynott posted a goal and two assists for the Americans, and Gavin posted a pair of goals of his own. Zahara stopped 33 Tri-City shots in the loss, while Matecha made 31 saves to earn his sixth win of the year. The Wild penalty kill was spotless on nine chances as Wenatchee moved to 4-7-2-0 on the year, while Tri-City improved to 6-3-1-0 behind a perfect night on six kills.

The Wild make a brief trip to Everett on Saturday for a date with the Silvertips before return home next Friday to begin a season-long six-game homestand. Saturday’s opening puck drop at Angel of the Winds Arena is scheduled for 6:05 p.m., with live coverage on Newsradio 560 KPQ and WHL Live. Tickets for next Friday’s game and all regular-season home games are on sale now by phone at 509-888-7825, or by visiting the team office at Town Toyota Center. Updated news and information on Wild hockey are always available through the team’s website and on the team’s social media platforms on Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.