The Game (Story)
EVERETT — It takes a great deal of perspective and experience to characterize a two-goal performance as an “off night.”
Yet that’s how Everett Silvertips forward Remi Laurencelle described his Wednesday night showing despite scoring twice as the Tips routed the visiting Tri-City Americans 5-0 before 3,508 fans at Xfinity Arena.
“I turned the puck over a couple of times and probably should have played more (simply),” Laurencelle said. “I think today was pure luck, honestly.”
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for Everett (12-7-0-2, 26 points) while serving as a testament to the Silvertips’ mental fortitude. All three losses came by one goal during last week’s road trip to Alberta with the Tips holding a lead in all three games.
“We just didn’t want history to repeat itself,” defenseman Cole MacDonald said. “Knowing what happened in Calgary we just worked harder and tried to keep the lead. It worked out for us today.”
Everett head coach Kevin Constantine described Wednesday’s start as “blah” for the first 10 minutes. Then the Tips found their legs as Laurencelle and MacDonald tallied first-period goals to give the Tips a 2-0 lead they never relinquished.
“When you go on the road and play that many games in that short a time period, it takes about a week to get your legs back under you,” Constantine said. “That means you need to conquer that mentally. So I thought that part of it tonight — that we didn’t have great legs, but we worked hard in our heads — I think that was helpful.”
Everett also withstood the loss of star defenseman Noah Juulsen, who took a punishing hit along the boards in the first period. Juulsen played the remainder of the period before being shut down for the night with back spasms. He later told reporters, “I’ll be fine.”
Tri-City (9-15-1-0, 19 points) tallied 16 of its 26 shots in the final period, but the Everett defenders shortened their shifts and goaltender Carter Hart recorded 26 saves for his fifth shutout of the season.
“With Noah gone, every ‘D’ had to play a lot (and) I thought they were really solid,” Constantine said. “We weren’t as good a team in the third, but I thought the ‘D’ overall was really good.”
Everett led 3-0 through two periods. With both teams down a man in the penalty box, the Americans pulled their goalie following the third period media timeout. The plan backfired as Laurencelle scored an unassisted goal on the empty net to push the advantage to 4-0.
“It’s been a team effort and I’ve been in the right spot at the right time for my teammates to come find me,” Laurencelle said.
Rookie defenseman Jake Christiansen added the final goal from the top of the left circle at 17:16 in the third.
Laurencelle didn’t take long to extend his point streak to seven games. Carson Stadnyk fired the puck from the right circle off the boards behind the net, and it caromed to Laurencelle who was waiting on the left side of the crease. Laurencelle shot it past Tri-City net minder Evan Sarthou for the 1-0 lead at 11:01 in the first.
MacDonald’s slap shot from beyond the left circle off a feed from Patrick Bajkov pushed Everett’s advantage to 2-0 at 19:42 in the opening period.
“(Graham) Millar did some good work down low to keep the puck for us there and Pattie had a nice pass and luckily it got through traffic and went in,” MacDonald said. “It was a big goal.”
Bajkov extended the lead to 3-0 with his shot from the left circle at 10:35.
Everett finished with a 35-26 shot advantage. Bajkov ended with a goal and an assist for the Tips, who return to action Friday at 7:30 against Moose Jaw at Xfinity Arena.
The Turning Point
MacDonald’s goal came with just seconds remaining in the first period and extended Everett’s lead to 2-0. Tri-City never recovered as the Tips went on to score three more times and win in convincing fashion.
Three Stars
1. Everett F Patrick Bajkov: The 18-year-old had a goal and an assist to go along with a plus-2 rating.
2. Everett F Remi Laurencelle: The 20-year-old scored twice to extend his point streak to seven games while tallying a plus-2 showing.
3. Everett D Cole MacDonald: The overager scored an impressive goal that widened Everett’s lead and finished plus-3 on the night.
Honorable mention: Everett G Carter Hart (no goals allowed, 26 saves); Everett D Kevin Davis (plus-4 rating).
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