Wenatchee stops streaking AVS

PALMER — Wenatchee went wild on the Alaska Avalanche this week, ending the Avs’ 7-game winning streak and unbeaten record at the MTA Events Center.

Following an aggressive three-game sweep of North American Hockey League West-leading Fairbanks that elevated the Avs to No. 2 in the standings, the Wild unloaded for 15 goals in a pair of wins. Wenatchee topped the Avs 8-4 Tuesday, followed by a 7-0 thumping on Wednesday.

Although the losses didn’t affect the league standings — Alaska with 19 points is still trailing the Ice Dogs, who have 23 — it ended a stretch that saw the Avs close what had been a 10-point gap. Kenai River is third with 18 points.

In Tuesday’s game, Ben Carey got the Wild on the scoreboard about halfway through the first period, setting the tone for a monster two games for the forward from Centennial, Colo.

Carey scored twice Tuesday and recorded a hat-trick in Wednesday’s shutout.

It was the first of what would prove to be more of a shooting drill for Wenatchee than a series against the hottest team in the league.

Gage Christianson tied the score with 5:39 remaining in the period, and going into the second the game was still up for grabs at 1-1. Mitch Kontny gave the Avs a 2-1 lead less than two minutes into the second, but Carey would tally his second goal of the game to tie it up again.

A Matt Cope score with less than a minute remaining gave the Wild a 3-2 advantage going into the final period.

And it didn’t take Wenatchee long to pull away once the puck dropped in the third. Max McHugh made it 4-2 less than two minutes into the period.

Cobi Smith-Mass would give the home crowd at the MTA Events Center hope by cutting the lead to 4-3 with more than 15 minutes of hockey left to play, but consecutive goals for the Wild by Trevor Husch and Chris Kerr would put it out of reach at 6-3.

Jeff Bergh would give Alaska its final goal of the game with 4:45 left to play, but the Wild would slam the door with goals from Trace Redmond and Blake Saylor in the final 3:25, both on the power play.

That momentum didn’t let up Wednesday, when Wild goaltender Greg Lewis pitched a shutout, stopping all 29 Avs shots. And he had plenty of help from his offense.

Carey notched the first of his three goals a little more than five minutes in to give the Wild a 1-0 lead, and it would hold to be the game-winner. He made it 2-0 about 10 minutes later.

Wenatchee would take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission, and repeat that in the second, leading 6-0 going into the final period. Cope would round out the scoring barrage for Wenatche at the 14:17 mark of the third.

News and notes: The Avs continue their homestand next weekend, Nov. 4 and 5, for another two games against Wenatchee. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. both nights. … While the Avalanche may want to forget the last two games, the team’s hot streak garnered attention throughout the league. The NAHL announced its Three Stars of the Week for the week ending Oct. 23, and Avs forward Kevin Novakovich was recognized as one. He played a big role for the Avalanche in a three-game sweep of Fairbanks, including scoring the game-winning goal in back-to-back games.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.