Wild rout Tigers 7-2 in Wenatchee, Benson earns first star

Wenatchee put the game away early, scoring four times in the first period. Levi Benson opened the scoring at 4:55, unassisted. Rui Han made it 2-0 at 16:10, then Zane Torre scored the game-winning goal at 16:44, and Benson added his second of the night at 17:32 to push the lead to 4-0 before the period was out.

Medicine Hat goaltender Cash Christie was replaced at the 16:44 mark of the game. Christie stopped 10 of 13 shots in his 16:44 of work. Carter Casey came on in relief and turned aside 24 of 28 shots over the remaining 43:16.

The Tigers got on the board in the second period when Liam Ruck scored on the power play at 8:14, assisted by Dayton Reschny and Luke Cozens, cutting the deficit to 4-1. Mathias Silaban restored the four-goal margin for Wenatchee at 14:25.

Silaban scored again just 33 seconds into the third period to make it 6-1. Cozens replied for Medicine Hat at 9:51, his eighth goal of the season, assisted by Liam Ruck and Markus Ruck. Caelan Joudrey capped the scoring on a Wenatchee power play at 15:38.

Wenatchee netminder Carsten Leyerzapf stopped 36 of 38 shots to earn the win. The Wild finished 1-for-7 on the power play; Medicine Hat went 1-for-2. Medicine Hat was assessed 28 penalty minutes on 10 penalties, including a 10-minute misconduct to Yaroslav Bryzgalov in the third period. Wenatchee's Ty Coupland also drew a 10-minute misconduct on the same stoppage.

Benson, Silaban and Joudrey were named the game's three stars. Attendance at Town Toyota Center was 2,058.

With the loss, the Tigers fall to 6-5-1 and have dropped two straight. They are on the road again on Friday, visiting the Spokane Chiefs at Numerica Veterans Arena at 7:05 p.m. PDT.