Wild snatch a point despite shoot-out loss
THE YKK sponsored Widnes Wild picked up a sensational point in a battling encounter with the Whitley Warriors before eventually losing out on penalty shots at Planet Ice Widnes on Sunday.
After a tense opening, Whitley took the lead on 11 minutes and edged further ahead just 60 seconds later. Widnes pulled a goal back through Liam Charnock just 60 seconds after that and the score remained 1-2 at the first period break.
The Warriors scored again on 28 minutes to lead 1-3 and looked to be well on top at this point.
However the Wild team did not let their heads drop and with the score still standing at 1-3 after two periods, still looked to be in with a chance.
The third period was much better for Widnes as they finally managed to match the visitors in terms of puck possession and shots on goal.
Latvian import Vlads Vulcanovs pulled a goal back for the Wild on 48 minutes – and the fightback was on!
On 55 minutes, Matty Barlow fired in the equaliser, setting a up barnstorming finale in a match that could now easily go either way.
The five remaining minutes were played out goalless, however, as were the resulting five minutes of sudden death over time.
This meant that the game had to be decided by a penalty shoot out, which – unfortunately for Widnes - went in favour of the visitors.
However the Wild receive a league point for drawing the match at the end of regulation time, and that means that they have now taken points off all of the teams in the Moralee Division this season.
There are three teams currently locked on 21 points in the league table – Sheffield Scimitars, Solihull Barons and Widnes – and the Wild have games in hand over the others.
Widnes now have three away games in a row – away to Solihull this Saturday, Whitley on Sunday and then Solway Sharks on Saturday 12th March. They are next at home on Sunday 13th March when they take on the Solihull Barons at Planet Ice Widnes – 5.30pm face off.