After a slow start saw them behind on the scoresheet against the Everett Silvertips, the Wheat Kings played their best period in the third. They ran out of time and out of gas before they could complete the comeback, however.
Jaxon Jacobson scored, but the Wheat Kings fell 4-1 to the Silvertips. Jayden Kraus was sensational with 50 saves.
“The first two periods were pretty disappointing,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “Everett’s an excellent hockey team, they go and they go and they skate, and there’s zero quit in everything they do. They have 100 percent buy-in and unfortunately we were on the receiving end of that in probably the first 45 minutes of the game where we were on our heels and they just came at us and came at us.”
The veterans for Everett got them on the board early. First, Rylan Gould found a rebound of a blocked shot and wrapped it around the Wheat Kings’ net and in. Then, just as a Silvertips’ power play expired, they fed the puck over to Zackary Shantz for a one-timer from the right circle that Kraus got part of but not quite enough for the 2-0 lead.
It was a much more even second period, but just when it looked like the Wheat Kings would escape it down by just the two, the Silvertips sunk in a late dagger. Carter Bear picked off a clearing pass and fed it back to Matias Vanhanen, who cashed in on his short-range breakaway with 15.1 seconds to go in the second.
Early in the third, the Wheat Kings broke through. Caleb Hadland sent the puck to Luke Mistelbacher on the right wing, and the veteran sniper sent it right back to the trailer Jacobson, who snapped home his 15th.
But the Silvertips would answer back. At one end, Gunnar Gleasman drove his way to the net but was robbed as he went to his backhand. As Everett came back the other way, Hunter Rudolph fired home his second of the season that proved to be the final goal of the game.
Despite a brief 6-on-3 and a lot of scrums late, nothing changed on the scoreboard and the Wheat Kings fell 4-1. They get right back to work tomorrow in Portland against the Winterhawks.
