By Ed Sheets
The Johnstown Tomahawks and Wenatchee Wild battled back and forth for two periods, before the Tomahawks scored three third-period goals in a 6-4 win on Friday night at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena. The win is the Tomahawks fourth straight and their sixth in the last ten games.
Wenatchee opened the scoring in the first period as Mike Coyne scored a power-play goal at 16:15. Joe Drabin tied the game 2:25 into the second period, with the assist credited to Mitch Hall. Hall now has a team-leading 12 assists this season. Wenatchee retook the lead as Troy Loggins scored at 6:05 of the second period.
Matthew Meier tied the game at two at 10:22, with Cody Bentzel earning the assist. The assist is Bentzels first point since he was credited with an assist on Alex Jaeckle’s goal in the Tomahawks 3-0 win over Aberdeen on Sept. 20.
Tanner Barnes made it 3-2 Wenatchee at 16:20, before Brandon Reinholz tied the game on a shot that sneaked between the skate of goaltender Gustaf Johansson and the left post.
Trevor Recktenwald got the Tomahawks the lead back just 30 seconds into the third period to make it a 4-3 game. Matthew Nuttle made it 4-4 at 14:13.
Josh Bowes scored his first goal as a Tomahawk less than a minute later. The goal ended up being the game-winner, as Shane Bednard added an insurance goal at 19:13. Bednard scored the empty-net goal by shooting the puck from behind the red line, and it slowly made its way into the empty Wenatchee crease to set the final at 6-4.
Jake Moore earned his second win of the season, stopping 36 of 40 shots. Johansson took the loss stopping 17 of 22 shots. The Tomahawks were outshot 40-23, but scored all six goals on 12 shots in the second and third periods.
The Tomahawks conclude their weekend series against Wenatchee tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the War Memorial. For more information visit www.johnstowntomahawks.com or call 814-536-4625.