Jagger Williamson scored a heroic shorthanded goal in the third period and Ty Taylor was spectacular turning aside 34 of 35 as the Vipers used two first period goals to propel themselves to a 3-1 win in game 2 of the best of seven series against the Wild.
The Vipers knew they were going to get a big push from the Wild in the first period, but as they did a night ago they were able to get on the board first as a point shot from Mitch Andres found its way through a maze of bodies to make it 1-0 in the first three minutes. The Wild rebounded nicely and test the Vipers after the media timeout. Ty Taylor made three phenomenal saves to keep his team up by a goal as he robbed Josh Arnold on a breakaway, Lucas Sowder on a slap pass and stop on August Von Ungern in the slot. That sparked the Vipers as late in the period, Jesse Lansdell deflected home his first of the playoffs to give the Vipers a 2-0 lead after 1 period of play.
As they did a night ago, the Wild came out with a strong second period push. They cut the deficit early as AJ Vanderbeck banged home his own rebound to make it 2-1. The Vipers counterattacked a number of times, but couldn’t beat Austin Park who was very solid. The best chance for the Vipers in the period came from Jagger Williamson and Niko Karamanis, with Austin Park out of position, but the puck couldn’t find the back of the net. The Wild in the final few minutes had a glorious chance to tie it up, but Sam Morton clanked it off the iron. Through 40 minutes, the Vipers were up 2-1.
[cs_video column_size=”1/1″ video_url=”https://youtu.be/8NBs4lh0QJM” video_width=”500″ video_height=”250″][/cs_video]
The third period featured a little bit of everything as the Wild tried to climb their way even. Ty Taylor as he has all series made a number of big saves as Wenatchee threw pucks from everywhere at the goal. The Vipers weren’t without chances of their own as Austin Park stymied Keyvan Mokhtari in front of the goal. The turning point of the hockey game was in the last half of the period as the Vipers found themselves shorthanded. The Vipers won the puck up the ice and Jesse Lansdell fed Jagger Williamson in on a breakaway and he ripped home his 5th of the playoffs before crashing into the end boards at a high speed. That made it 3-1 and it was lead the Vipers would not relinquish.
The Vipers now lead the best of 7 series, 2 games to nothing as it switches to Wenatchee for games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday from the Town Toyota Center.
