PORTLAND, Ore. — Cole MacDonald picked a perfect time for his first goal of the season.
The Everett Silvertips’ overage assistant captain wristed a shot past Portland goaltender Adin Hill at 19:07 of the third period to give the Tips a 2-1 Western Hockey League victory Sunday in front of 6,166 fans at the Moda Center.
Everett (6-4-0-1, 13 points) avenged its heart-breaking Friday home loss to Portland. In that contest, the Winterhawks’ Rodrigo Abols broke a 1-1 tie with two minutes to play, giving Portland the victory.
Sunday it was the Tips’ turn to claim the road victory with a late goal. The win snapped Portland’s five-game winning streak and is just Everett’s second victory in its past six games. The Tips are 2-3 against Portland this season and will take a long break from playing their U.S. Division rival after five matchups in Everett’s first 11 games.
Silvertips rookie Brian King scored his first WHL at 17:44 of the first period to give Everett a 1-0 lead. Remi Laurencelle won the puck in the left corner and found the streaking King at the top the right circle. King stuck the puck between Adin Hill’s legs for the 1-0 lead.
Both teams had excellent opportunities to score late in the second period, but they each hit the goal post.
The score remained 1-0 until 35 seconds into the final period. Caleb Jones found Keegan Iverson near center ice on an odd-man rush and Iverson fired past Everett goaltender Carter Hart to tie the game 1-1.
That set up MacDonald’s game-winner, and the Tips withstood a late Portland power play and a pulled Hill to hang on for the victory.
Hart and Hill each turned in impressive performance. Hart had 23 saves and Hill tallied 28. Neither team has scored more than two goals in any of its past three contests.
Everett’s vaunted power play again came up empty as the Tips were 0-for-2 on the evening. Portland finished 0-for-4.
Laurencelle finished with assists on both Everett goals. Devon Skoleski and Kevin Davis also had assists.
Blake Heinrich had the other assist for Portland.
The Tips now have four days off after playing three games in a five-day span. Everett returns to Xfinity Arena Friday against Prince George, and plays host to the Vancouver Giants on Saturday.
Silvertips 2, Winterhawks 1
Everett 1 0 1 — 2
Portland 0 0 1 — 1
First Period—1, Everett, King 1 (Laurencelle, Skoleski), 17:44. Penalties-Heinrich Por (delay of game), 15:36; Leedahl Evt (boarding), 18:59.
Second Period—No Scoring.Penalties-Ralph Evt (holding), 2:02; Ralph Evt (roughing), 12:05; Schoenborn Por (roughing), 12:05; Schoenborn Por (slashing), 16:20; Stadnyk Evt (roughing), 16:43; Heinrich Por (slashing), 16:43.
Third Period—2, Portland, Iverson 3 (Jones, Heinrich), 0:35. 3, Everett, MacDonald 1 (Laurencelle, Davis), 19:07. Penalties-Bajkov Evt (slashing), 15:45; Leedahl Evt (slashing), 19:40.
Shots on Goal—Everett 10-11-9-30. Portland 6-8-10-24.
Power Play Opportunities—Everett 0-2; Portland 0-4.
Goalies_Everett, Hart 6-4-0-1 (24 shots-23 saves). Portland, Hill 7-5-0-0 (30 shots-28 saves).
A—6,166
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