EVERETT — When playing at even strength Wednesday night the Everett Silvertips held a distinct advantage over the visiting Portland Winterhawks at Xfinity Arena.
Anything other than even strength, however, and the scales tipped in favor of the Winterhawks.
Portland scored a short-handed goal and tallied four power-play goals to complete a furious third-quarter comeback for a 7-5 victory before 3,078 fans.
Cody Glass broke a 5-5 tie at 15:49 in the third period for Portland’s first lead of the game, and Colton Veloso completed the scoring at 17:07 as the Winterhawks scored five unanswered goals in the final 14:53 to erase a 5-2 deficit.
“A lot of situations happen and you never know — it’s hockey,” said Portland forward Rihards Bukarts, who tallied a hat trick with all three goals coming via the power play. “We went down three goals, and the most important thing about our team is that we’re hard-working. We never quit and we kept playing our game. We kept our structure and got a couple goals on power plays because of the hard work.”
Third-place Everett (15-10-0-2, 32 points) saw its chance to create separation in the U.S. Division from fourth-place Portland (14-14-0-0, 28 points) slip away.
The Tips seemed to take control when Remi Laurencelle and Jake Christiansen each scored early in the third period to push Everett’s one-goal advantage to 5-2.
But the Winterhawks countered with three consecutive power-play goals — the first and third from Bukarts sandwiched around one from Caleb Jones — to tie the game at 10:43 in the third.
“We had the lead, and the lead was given up because we took penalties,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “They got momentum and carried it, and we couldn’t find a save.”
Portland finished 4-for-6 on the power play while Everett was 0-for-3. Three of the Tips’ penalties came in the third period, and Portland scored on each.
“I think their power play was good tonight, but our (penalty kill) has got to be better for sure,” Everett defenseman Noah Juulsen said. “We can’t take penalties like that all night long.”
The defeat overshadowed the offensive performances turned in by Laurencelle and teammate Carson Stadnyk.
Laurencelle had a goal and two assists, while having an apparent goal called back in the first period. He also fell victim to an incredible sprawling save by Portland goaltender Adin Hill in the first.
Stadnyk scored twice in a wild opening period that was a harbinger of the third. The first goal came when Cole MacDonald found Stadnyk in the slot from the left wing, and Stadnyk buried the shot at 7:24 for his first goal in four games.
The Winterhawks tied it at 10:10 when Bukarts scored from the right side on Portland’s first power play of the game. Laurencelle then found Stadnyk from behind the net to reclaim the lead for Everett at 10:22.
Everett took a 2-1 lead into the second period and went on the man advantage three seconds in. However, Alex Schoenborn tied the game with a short-handed, unassisted goal at 1:24.
Yan Khomenko’s unassisted wrister at 3:46 in the second bounced off Portland defenseman Conor MacEachern into the net for the 3-2 lead.
Laurencelle and Christiansen then scored in quick succession to open the third and set up Portland’s comeback.
“We don’t ever score goals, so going up 5-2 was good,” Constantine said. “I don’t even know that we had a huge change in how we played other than that we took penalties. That was the negative.”
Everett plays at Tri-City on Friday.
Notes
The Silvertips scratched Patrick Bajkov, Riley Sutter, Lucas Skrumeda and Dario Winkler. Bajkov and Sutter were sick, Skrumeda is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury on the WHL injury report, and Winkler is in Austria preparing for World Juniors.
Winterhawks 7, Silvertips 5
Portland 1 1 5 — 7
Everett 2 1 2 — 5
1st Period—1, Everett, Stadnyk 5 (MacDonald, Leedahl), 7:24. 2, Portland, Bukarts 10 (Schoenborn, Dougherty), 10:10 (PP). 3, Everett, Stadnyk 6 (Laurencelle), 10:22. Penalties—Christiansen Evt (tripping), 9:44; Gerth Evt (interference), 18:03; Glass Por (ob-tripping), 19:57.
2nd Period—4, Portland, Schoenborn 9 1:24 (SH). 5, Everett, Khomenko 2 3:46. Penalties—Martin Evt (tripping), 10:41; Jones Por (roughing), 18:15.
3rd Period—6, Everett, Laurencelle 13 (Leedahl), 0:28. 7, Everett, Christiansen 3 (Juulsen, Stadnyk), 2:21. 8, Portland, Bukarts 11 (Heinrich, Jones), 5:07 (PP). 9, Portland, Jones 5 (Schoenborn, Turgeon), 5:37 (PP). 10, Portland, Bukarts 12 (Schoenborn), 10:43 (PP). 11, Portland, Glass 4 (Bukarts, Heinrich), 15:49. 12, Portland, Veloso 7 (McKenzie, Jones), 17:07. Penalties—Khomenko Evt (roughing), 3:42; Stadnyk Evt (hooking), 5:33; Schoenborn Por (tripping), 7:35; Millar Evt (too many men), 9:20.
Shots on Goal—Portland 6-8-17-31. Everett 12-12-14-38.
Power Play Opportunities—Portland 4 / 6; Everett 0 / 3.
Goalies—Portland, Hill 13-12-0-0 (38 shots-33 saves). Everett, Hart 15-9-0-2 (31 shots-24 saves).
A—3,078
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
