Avs take playoff series lead

WENATCHEE, Wash. — This wasn’t how the playoffs were supposed to start for the Wenatchee Wild. The Wild dominated the Alaska Avalanche during the regular season, winning 11 of 14 games, but now find themselves trailing 1-0 in the best-of-five first-round West Division playoff series.

Kyle Pichler scored 26 seconds into overtime to give the Avs a 4-3 victory and a leg up in the series. Jason Cohen’s shot bounced off a Wild defender, and Pichler was there to knock home the game-winner.

“The puck ended up on my stick, and I spun around and put it in the five hole,” Pichler said.

The Wild twice came back from one-goal deficits and outshot the Avs 47-37, but were less than crisp for much of the game.

“We played six or seven minutes hard, the way we can play,” Wild coach Paul Baxter said. “That was when we were down 3-2. In the playoffs you can’t wait until you’re down to play with a sense of urgency.”

That’s also the only time Pichler said he was ever worried about the outcome.

“The only time I thought we were in trouble was with three and a half minutes left, when they scored,” Pichler said. “That could have been a momentum-changer.”

Trailing 3-2 as the clock ticked under four minutes, the Wild got the equalizer at 16:39 of the third, with Duncan McKellar scoring on assists from Michael Voran and Evan Mosey. The goal came on a scramble in front of the Alaska net, one of several good scoring chances for the Wild in the closing minutes.

“Our power play and penalty kill were an indication of the way we played the game,” Baxter said. “Our penalty kill was soft. We weren’t very assertive or willing to block shots.

“Our first two power plays, we had talked about how our passing was off, our timing was off, our receiving angle was off.”

Avs coach Dave Boitz said the win puts extra pressure on the Wild for Saturday night’s game.

“It’s always big to win the first one, but it’s just one game,” Boitz said. “We’ve still got to win two more, but now we have a chance to go up 2-0 (Saturday). This puts a ton of pressure on them.”

The Avs put pressure on the Wild early Friday, preventing the Wild from moving the puck out of their own end for much of the first period, but the Wild managed a 1-1 tie through one thanks to Zach Ledford’s goal at 18:20 of the period. Ledford corralled a loose puck in the left circle and threw it on net through traffic to tie the game at 1-1.

The Avs had taken a 1-0 lead on a power play goal by Nardo Nagtzaam at 7:52. The puck deflected to Nagtzaam in the right circle on a shot from the right point, and the Avs forward found the back of the net to give his team the early lead.

The Wild took the lead for the first time less than a minute into the second period, when Nic Dowd scored on a rebound from point-blank range to Nathaniel Pellegrino’s left just 56 seconds into the middle period.

Alaska got back to even on its second power play goal of the game at 8:52 of the second. Sean McNeely launched a low shot from the center point, beating Mac Carruth low on his right.

“When we got back to 2-2 that was a crucial goal,” Boitz said. “It was a good play, but it wasn’t a great shot.”

For the most part, Boitz was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I’m real proud of the guys, how they came out working hard,” he said. “We had a good game plan and we stuck to it.”

Nathan Pellegrino mad 44 saves to pick up the win between the pipes.

“(Pellegrino) made some big saves when he needed to,” Boitz said.

Mac Carruth stopped 33 shots in a losing effort for the Wild.

“We didn’t deserve to win,” Baxter said. “But that game’s over and we get to start again (Saturday). You don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself.”

Notes: The game was delayed briefly in the first period due to a broken door. Brandon Burrell checked Alaska’s Jason Cohen into the boards and the door popped open. Play resumed after arena staff was able to bend the latch back into place. … Both teams got goals from unlikely sources. Nagtzaam had just nine goals in 46 regular-season games for the Avs, and Ledford scored only three goals in 56 games with the Wild.