Tips finish strong in 6-0 win over Vancouver

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips and Vancouver Giants illustrated the importance of being able to finish Friday night.

Everett did, Vancouver didn’t, and as a result a game that was fairly even territorially was a complete blowout on the scoreboard.

Everett executed in front of goal in a way the Vancouver couldn’t as the Tips skated away with a 6-0 victory at Xfinity Arena.

Remi Laurencelle led the way for Everett with two goals and an assist as the Tips used some precision shooting to compensate on a night when they didn’t play their “A” game.

“I think we buried down on our chances, I think that’s what gave us the game,” said Laurencelle, who has five goals and five assists in Everett’s six games in February. “We were a little bit sloppy at times and they got a lot of good chances — we were getting outchanced at one point. I’m happy we capitalized on our chances, which gave us the lead.”

Lucas Skrumeda added a goal and an assist — the goal was his first in the WHL — while Kohl Bauml, Carson Stadnyk and Tristen Pfeifer also found the net for Everett (35-16-3-2). Carter Hart turned aside all 22 shots he faced as the 16-year-old rookie posted his third shutout of the season.

Portland, which is chasing Everett for first place in the WHL’s U.S. division, beat Tri-City 7-1 Friday night, meaning the Tips’ lead remained seven points.

“We’re in a tough position right now, trying to hold the lead,” Laurencelle said. “Every point counts right now, and those are two big points to try and win our division.”

It was a rough night all around for Vancouver (23-30-1-2). Offensively the Giants could not execute when they got the puck in good scoring positions. Meanwhile, both Vancouver goalies — Cody Porter was pulled after allowing two goals on seven shots, while Payton Lee gave up four on 18 shots in relief — were victimized by Everett’s finishing.

The Giants have now lost their past two games against Everett by a combined score of 13-1.

The Tips had their shooting boots on Friday. Everett’s first goal, scored by Laurencelle, was one Porter would want back. Then the fifth, by Stadnyk, was a centering pass on the power play that deflected off a defender. However, the other four were laser-beam shots that no goaltender would have stopped. It was punctuated by the final goal, when Pfeifer’s shot from the point on the power play rocketed into the top of the net, spectacularly sending Lee’s water bottle flying.

“It was just getting pucks to the net,” Laurencelle explained about Everett’s shooting proficiency. “My first one I was just seeing what I could do, shot on net and fortunately it went in. For the other goals it was just competing and bearing down on our chances, and I think we did that tonight.”

Everett may not have dominated the first period in terms of possession, but the Tips did dominate on the scoreboard as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

Everett was gifted they game’s first goal a mere 1 minute, 19 seconds into the game. Brayden Low’s pass played Laurencelle into the zone, but Laurencelle seemed too deep to cause any danger. However, he fired a shot from a tight angle anyway, and it somehow got through Porter to make it 1-0.

After that, the Tips used a pair of inch-perfect shots to increase their lead to 3-0. Bauml received a nice feed from Dawson Leedahl on the rush and put a shot from the top of the left circle in off the underside of the crossbar, making it 2-0 at 13:36 and sending Porter to the bench in favor of Lee. Then less than two minutes later the Tips put their first shot on Lee into the net. A nice cross-ice feed by Laurencelle found Skrumeda open at the top of the left circle. Skrumeda gathered and wristed a shot into the opposite corner at 15:29 to give the Tips a three-goal advantage.

Laurencelle then scored early in a period again in the second. This time an awful turnover down low saw the puck squirt to Laurencelle all alone in front. He turned and slapped a shot into the top corner to make it 4-0 at 3:40.

Vancouver caused Everett trouble the rest of the period as the Tips had several defensive lapses. But former Silvertip Zane Jones had a goal waived off for batting the puck in with a high stick, and the Giants had the puck in good position several times only to fail to execute.

Everett didn’t get a single power play in the first or second periods, but the Tips converted both their chances in the third to make the final score ugly.

Slap shots

Everett was without center Matt Fonteyne for the second time in the past three games. Fonteyne sat out Everett’s 4-3 overtime victory over Portland last Sunday because of a lower-body injury, then he aggravated it during the Tips’ 4-3 shootout loss to Tri-City on Wednesday. … Vancouver was without overage winger Matt Bellerive because of illness, as well as veteran defenseman Arvin Atwal because of a team-imposed suspension.

Silvertips 6, Giants 0

Vancouver 0 0 0 — 0

Everett 3 1 2 — 6

First Period—1, Everett, Laurencelle 16 (Low, Skrumeda), 1:19. 2, Everett, Bauml 28 (Leedahl, Juulsen), 13:36. 3, Everett, Skrumeda 1 (Laurencelle, Low), 15:29. Penalties—none.

Second Period—4, Everett, Laurencelle 17, 3:40. Penalties—Juulsen, Everett (hooking), 0:52; Menell, Vancouver (roughing), 19:59; Scherbak, Everett (charging), 19:59; Mykitiuk, Everett (roughing), 19:59.

Third Period—5, Everett, Stadnyk 22 (Juulsen, Nikolishin), 14:34 (pp). 6, Everett, Pfeifer 2 (Nikolishin, Bajkov), 18:34 (pp). Penalties—Wharrie, Everett (cross checking), 11:08; Stukel, Vancouver (interference), 14:20; Popoff, Vancouver (10-minute misconduct), 14:34; Barberis, Vancouver (slashing), 16:37; Wegleitner, Everett (tripping), 19:28.

Shots on goal—Vancouver 7-8-7—22. Everett 11-9-5—25. Power-play opportunities—Vancouver 0 of 4. Everett 2 of 2.

Goalies—Vancouver, Porter 12-12-1-2 (7 shots, 5 saves), Lee (18 shots, 14 saves). Everett, Hart 12-4-2-0 (22 shots, 22 saves).

A—4,326.

Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.