FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 19th, 2019
WENATCHEE, WA. – The Trail Smoke Eaters came from behind twice before a Kent Johnson shootout winner gave them a 4-3 victory in the shootout over the Wenatchee Wild at the Town Toyota Center on Saturday night.
Despite some strong pressure inside the offensive zone for the Smoke Eaters, it was the Wild that opened the scoring in the 1st period coming at the 8:21 mark of the stanza. Chad Sasaki had his shot from the right half boards deflect off of body to the slot for PJ Fletcher to shoot past the blocker side of Smoke Eaters goaltender Adam Marcoux for a one-goal lead.
Trail has some good looks in the opening period including a pair of power play opportunities that they couldn’t cash in on as they headed to the 2nd period trailing 1-0. Cal Sandquist stopped all 6 shots he faced in the opening period while Marcoux turned aside 6 of the 7 shots thrown his way in the opening frame.
After a Smoke Eater power play expired early in the 2nd period, Wenatchee took a 2-0 lead from a thorn in the side of Trail this season. Matt Gosiewski left the puck in the left face-off circle for Matt Dorsey, who made a move to his backhand in tight and lifted the puck over the blocker side of Marcoux for his 8th point in five games against the Smoke Eaters this season and gave Wenatchee a 2-0 lead.
Just 32 seconds later, Trail cut the deficit in half courtesy of a strong play from Chase Stevenson. The Smoke Eaters forward chipped and chased the puck down the right wing before getting below the goal line and passing to the glove side of Sandquist as Layne Sniher tapped it behind him for his 2nd goal of the season and cutting the lead to 2-1 at the 1:38 mark.
The Wild thought they had tied the game around the 15-minute mark of the period on a puck that rang off the crossbar off the stick of Marko Reifenberger in the slot and proved to be a big play as the Smoke Eaters tied the game moments later at the 10:13 mark of the middle stanza. Hayden Rowan had his first rebound chance stopped in front of the net but followed up with a backhand shot past the glove side of Sandquist for his 14th goal of the season on the power play to tie the game.
Murphy Stratton gave the Wild the lead back at the 11:17 mark of the 2nd frame on a one-timer. Lucas Sowder fed the puck from the right face-off circle to the left side for Stratton as he fired a shot that was stopped by the left shoulder of Marcoux with the puck popping over his shoulder and into the net to give the Wild a 3-2 lead heading into the 3rd period.
The Smoke Eaters didn’t take long into the 3rd period to tie the game as just 13 seconds into the frame, Mack Byers got the game on even terms. Byers took the puck behind the net and brought it to the front of the goal as he outwaited Sandquist and beat him on the blocker side for his 10th goal of the season to tie the game at 3-3.
The game would remain that way, despite a late flurry of chances by the Wild in regulation as the contest went to overtime. Powell Connor had a great chance on a shorthanded break to get in tight going from his backhand to his forehand but denied by the left pad of Sandquist to keep the game going.
Trail killed off the remainder of their penalty in overtime before Marcoux came up large in the dying moments of the extra frame as Reifenberger picked up a turnover just outside of the blue line and came in on a breakaway before being robbed by the blocker to keep the game alive into a shootout.
Both the goaltenders made saves in the first round of the shootout before Kent Johnson shot through the legs of Sandquist to give Trail the advantage with Marcoux closing the door on the final two Wenatchee shooters for the win.
Adam Marcoux made 20 saves on 23 shots through regulation and overtime before stopping all three of the shooters he faced in the shootout for his 15th win of the season. Cal Sandquist turned aside 21 of the 24 shots thrown his way and two of the three shooters he faced in the skills competition.
FINAL SCORE: 4-3 Smoke Eaters (SO)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 24-23 Smoke Eaters
SMOKE EATERS PP: 1/4
SMOKE EATERS PK: 4/4
3 STARS:
1) PJ Fletcher (1-1-2)
2) Kent Johnson (0-1-1)
3) Lucas Sowder (0-2-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Adam Marcoux (20 saves on 23 shots)
ATTENDANCE: 2,771
The Smoke Eaters (17-21-6-3) remain on the road for another weekend doubleheader as they head to the Shuswap to begin a two-game set against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (21-18-4-1) at the Shaw Centre on Friday night. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with the pre-game show getting underway at 6:50 PM on mixlr.com/trail-smoke-eaters as well as HockeyTV.com with the Voice of the Smoke Eaters, Trevor Miller.
