EVERETT — The script was followed to the letter. But this time the tying goal never came.
The Everett Silvertips and Kamloops Blazers played a near instant replay of their previous encounter Wednesday night at Xfinity Arena, but on this occasion the Tips held out at the end for a 2-1 victory.
Carson Stadnyk and Brayden Low scored the goals and Austin Lotz made 22 saves in net as Everett (16-4-2-1) closed out in a way it couldn’t when the teams met on Nov. 15.
“After the first period the coaches came in the room and told us (to beware having the same thing happen),” Stadnyk said. “This time they did battle back, but Lotz was there to shut the door, which was huge, and we just stuck together as a team at the end. We didn’t need 15 rounds of a shootout this time.”
Collin Shirley scored for Kamloops (11-11-3-2). Connor Ingram made 27 saves in net for the Blazers.
Eleven days earlier these same two teams played a game at Xfinity Arena that followed an identical pattern. In that game Everett dominated the first period to take a 2-0 lead, play evened out in the second, then Kamloops took the initiative in the third. The Blazers scored with one second remaining in regulation to tie it 2-2 and force overtime, with the Tips eventually requiring a WHL-record 15-round shootout to prevail.
On Wednesday Everett again controlled the first period, running riot in the first 10 minutes to take a 2-0 lead. Play once again evened out in the second, with Kamloops pulling within one. The Blazers were less dominating in the third period than the previous game — shots were 7-4 Kamloops in the third as opposed to the 17-3 Blazers advantage from the previous meeting — but the Tips still found themselves defending desperately at the end.
Then with 10 seconds remaining the puck came free to Josh Connolly at the right point, just as it did for the tying goal in the earlier matchup. But Logan Aasman slid across to block Connolly’s shot, and the Tips were able to run down the rest of the clock to hold on.
“The first period shows us how we should play every period,” Stadnyk said. “It was nice to outshoot them finally, because in the last 10 games teams have been giving it to us. The second and third periods we took it off, but we have to give credit to them, they’re a hard-working team. Lotz kept us in it the whole game.”
The Tips played a tremendous first 10 minutes, and they parlayed that into a 2-0 lead. Stadnyk gave Everett the lead at 5:11 when he made a move around one defender, held off another as he cut across the slot, then fired back into the opposite top corner to make it 1-0. The Tips then made it 2-0 on the power play at 9:41. Some good puck movement freed up Kevin Davis for a shot, and although his effort was saved, Low was just able to just get the rebound under Ingram.
Everett could have had even more during that stretch, but Ingram made two amazing saves to deny Kohl Bauml on separate occasions, and the Tips had to settle for a two-goal lead going into the second.
The Tips should have made it 3-0 seconds into the second period, but Stadnyk put a rebound off the far post with Ingram down and out. Then the Blazers started to get into the game and got on the scoreboard at 10:01. Kamloops was on a power play when Cole Ully drove the net and slipped the puck out front, where Shirley stabbed it in to cut Everett’s lead to one.
In the third Kamloops had more of the puck, but Everett was able to limit quality scoring opportunities until the final minutes, when the Blazers put some chances wide and Lotz made some good saves, allowing the Tips to hold on.
Slap shots
Everett played without its leading scorer, winger Nikita Scherbak. The first-round NHL draft pick had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher in Everett previous game, a 3-2 shootout at Seattle on Saturday. However, the injury was diagnosed as just a deep thigh bruise and he’s considered day-to-day. … The Tips were also without winger Dawson Leedahl (knee) and center Remi Laurencelle (ankle) because of injury, meaning defensemen Carter Cochrane and Jordan Wharrie continued to be used as forwards. … Kamloops was without overage defenseman Brady Gaudet because of an upper-body injury. Also, winger Matthew Campese served the second game of a two-game suspension for a kneeing major penalty against Prince George last Friday, and center Jake Kryski was given what was described as a “maintenance day.”
Silvertips 2, Blazers 1
Kamloops 0 0 — 1
Everett 2 0 0 — 2
First Period—1, Everett, Stadnyk 11 (Nikolishin, Juulsen), 5:11. 2, Everett, Low 7 (Davis), 9:41 (pp). Penalties—Fora, Kamloops (interference), 3:19; Bauml, Everett (goaltender interference), 3:19; Sideroff, Kamloops (slashing), 8:00; Nikolishin, Everett (interference), 11:50.
Second Period—3, Kamloops, Shirley 6 (Ully, Connolly), 10:01 (pp). Penalties—Cochrane, Everett (roughing), 2:37; Bauml, Everett (closing hand on puck), 8:30.
Third Period—no goals. Penalties—Harrison, Kamloops (charging), 7:51.
Shots on goal—Kamloops 7-9-7—23. Everett 15-8-4—27. Power-play opportunities—Kamloops 1 of 3. Everett 1 of 2.
Goalies—Kamloops, Ingram 4-5-1-2 (27 shots, 25 saves). Everett, Lotz 12-3-1-1 (23 shots, 22 saves).
A—3,789.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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