Avs finally enjoy victory against Wenatchee

WASILLA — The Alaska Avalanche have outshot Wenatchee. The Avs have out-worked the Wild. But for whatever reason, after eight of their first nine meetings with the first-year North American Hockey League franchise, the Avs have skated off the ice as the losing team.

But not on Wednesday.

Forward Cory Belisle cashed in on a Wild turnover in their own zone and scored the go-ahead goal in the third period to give Alaska the 3-2 win over Wenatchee at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena.

“We think we’ve out-worked them, but they’re a great team. They come out hard every night against us and they’ve got great goaltending,” Alaska forward Tyler Currier said about the Wild, who started the season 8-0-1 against the Avs. “I think we out-worked them again tonight, and luckily it went our way.”

Forward Kyle Pichler scored a pair of goals and goalie Nate Pellegrino stopped 33 shots to help the Avs snap a seven-game losing skid against their West Division foes.

“We really should have won more games against them,” Pichler said. “I think it’s a combination of a lot of things we’ve been doing wrong, and they’ve been getting good breaks. (Tonight) we worked hard and managed to put it in the net.”

Pichler gave the Avs the 1-0 lead 10 minutes into regulation when he one-timed a Jason Cohen pass into the back of the Wenatchee net.

Cohen, sitting near the left corner, fed a sharp pass in front of the crease to Pichler, who was parked on the right side of the net.

Midway through the second, Pichler deflected Braden Kinnebrew’s shot from the point past Wild goalie Mathieu Dugas while Alaska was skating on the power play.

“Jason and Braden set me up really good on those goals,” said Pichler, who has eight goals and three assists in 11 games against the Wild this season.

Wenatchee managed double-digit shot totals in each period, but was only able to sneak a pair of goofy goals past Pellegrino.

Jack Nicoll tied the score at 1-1 midway through the first when he swept a rebound of a shot that rang off the left post into the net.

Defenseman Alex Charette smacked a shot from the point which clipped the bottom section of the post and the puck bounced right to Nicoll, who was alone on the left side. With Pellegrino out of position, Nicoll capitalized.

Late in the second, Corbin Brown slipped a puck right underneath the left leg pad to tie the score at 2-2.

Brown sent a bouncing puck in toward the Alaska goal, and as it began to slow down and trickle toward Pellegrino, the Alaska goalie tried to drop on it, but the puck managed to sneak by.

“They get a lot of weird goals,” Alaska head coach Dave Boitz said. “There was one last night from inside the blueline and the two tonight were weird.”

Wenatchee edged Alaska 3-2 in a shootout on Tuesday.

Pellegrino’s biggest impact in the win came in a third period in which he stopped 14 shots in the third period and helped the Avs kill a late Wenatchee power play.

“He was huge in the third,” Boitz said. “There were two or three great saves in the third. I didn’t think he had to do too much in the first two periods, but late in the third (Wenatchee) came on and he had to make some big saves.”

With the win, Alaska improved to 22-25-3 and now with 47 points in the West Division. This weekend, the Avs host their final home series of the year with a two-game set against Fairbanks.

The Avalanche could actually make franchise history in the series that starts tonight at 7 p.m Alaska is just one win and one point shy of the franchise marks for wins and points in a season. During the 2005-06 season, the club posted 23 wins and 48 points.

Alaska 3, Wenatchee 2

Wednesday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Alaska- Pichler (Cohen, Hildebrandt) 10:00, 2. Wenatchee- Nicoll (Charette, Flynn) 11:08.

Second period — 3. Alaska- Pichler (Kinnebrew, Parenteu) pp 11:27, 4. Wenatchee- Brown (McKellar, Mosey) pp 17:41.

Third period — 5. Alaska- Belisle (Kowal, Rounds) 14:09.

Shots on goal: Wenatchee 10-11-14—35, Alaska 13-15-8—36; Saves: Wenatchee- Dugas 12-14-7—33, Alaska- Pellegrino 9-10-14—33; Power plays: Wenatchee 1-for-4, Alaska 1-for-7; Penalties: Wenatchee 11-for-30, Alaska 7-for-14.

Wenatchee 3, Alaska 2

Tuesday, Menard Arena

First period — 1. Wenatchee- Voran (Mosey, Nicoll) 9:25.

Second period — 2. Wenatchee- Voran (unassisted) 18:35, 3. Alaska- Currier (unassisted) 18:53.

Third period — 4. Alaska- Rounds (HIldbrandt, Haider) 2:04.

Overtime — no scoring.

Shootout — 5. Wenatchee- McKellar.

Shots on goal: Wenatchee 11-16-8-0-1—36, Alaska 9-8-11-0-0—28; Saves: Wenatchee- Carruth 9-7-10-0-0—26, Alaska- Woodring 10-15-8-0-0—33; Power plays: Wenatchee 0-for-2, Alaska 0-for-2; Penalties: Wenatchee 3-for-6, Alaska 3-for-6.

FINAL HOME SERIES

What: The final home series of the season for the Alaska Avalanche; Alaska vs. Fairbanks

Where: Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Arena

When: Tonight, Saturday, 7 p.m.