The Game (Story)
EVERETT – Suspension and injury robbed the Everett Silvertips of their top two point producers for Friday night’s game against the Kamloops Blazers.
So the Tips went out and scored four goals for the first time in nine games in a 4-3 win over the Blazers before 4,611 fans at Xfinity Arena.
With Remi Laurencelle serving the final contest of a three-game suspension and Carson Stadnyk out following a hit in Wednesday’s win over Portland, second-liners Patrick Bajkov and Matt Fonteyne joined captain Dawson Leedahl on the first line.
Bajkov and Fonteyne each scored a goal and had two assists, while Leedahl added a goal and an assist.
“That group generated some offense for us, which, with Stadnyk and Remi out, you had to wonder where the offense would come from, so that was great,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “(Dario) Winkler got us started and then those guys added a little offense for us.”
Everett beat Kamloops for the third time in three tries this season and the 11th straight time overall. The Blazers fell to 23-21-5-3 and have lost three straight games and have won just once in their last eight.
“We just had to put it on us to kind of get the guys going and I think it really worked,” Bajkov said. “It started clicking in the second period. We had a couple chances in the first that we couldn’t contribute on, but we found a way as we went on.”
Combined with Portland’s 2-1 win over Seattle, the U.S. Division-leading Silvertips (31-16-2-2, 66 points) moved seven points ahead of the second-place Thunderbirds (28-20-3-0, 59 points).
That sets up yet another crucial match-up tonight between the Tips and T-Birds at 7 at the ShoWare Center. Seattle defeated Everett in overtime the last time the teams met in Kent, but the Tips haven’t lost to the T-Birds in regulation this season.
Friday’s game appeared over when Bajkov fed Fonteyne in the slot for a 4-1 lead at 9:44 in the third. But Kamloops’ Deven Sideroff scored twice on power plays at 15:26 and 19:26 to cut the lead to 4-3.
“We kind of quit at 4-1 and the shots started to tilt in their favor and the ice kind of tilted in their direction,” Constantine said. “I wasn’t real thrilled at the end of the game, but it’s a win with probably our most depleted lineup of the year. We had the adversity of injuries for really the first time this year. Getting a win under those conditions was good.”
The Tips held on for the final 34 seconds to earn the win.
“They’re a hard team to play,” said Fonteyne, whose goal ended up being the game-winner. “They pushed back really hard at the end and they made it really interesting.”
Everett goaltender Carter Hart provided the first highlight when he elicited exclamation from the crowd with a diving glove save at 5:27 in the opening period to keep the game scoreless.
The Silvertips opened the scoring when they took advantage of a delayed penalty. Cole MacDonald curled behind the goal and put the puck on net where Winkler was waiting for the rebound. The Austrian flicked it past Kamloops goaltender Dylan Ferguson for the 1-0 at 12:42 in the opening period.
“It was good to get a lead (because) we really haven’t lately,” Constantine said. “We’ve been playing a lot of games giving up the first goal and it makes things harder. So that was good.”
Leedahl and Bajkov hooked up for a pair of second period goals that turned a 1-0 into a three-goal advantage.
Leedahl’s cross from the left wing was tipped in by Bajkov just 49 seconds into the second period. Bajkov returned the favor less than two minutes later when he found Leedahl all alone at the bottom of the left circle. Leedahl deked Ferguson and pushed a backhanded shot into the net for the 3-0 lead.
Kamloops reached the scoreboard at 17:29 when Jake Kryski knocked the puck under Hart during a scrum at the net front to make it 3-1.
Fonteyne’s goal set up a furious comeback attempt by the Blazers in the final minutes. Kamloops’ third goal came after Leedahl was assessed a penalty. However, Leedahl merely switched places in the box with Bajkov following the goal as Bajkov was whistled for a penalty just prior to the goal.
“It was pretty scramblely those last couple minutes there,” Bajkov said. “We took a few penalties and they kept the pressure on. Obviously they’ve got a good coach (WHL legend Don Hay) over there so they know the game’s never over. They wanted to push back and they did a good job with that.”
Hart finished with 27 saves in his league-leading 30th win of the season while Ferguson had 28 stops.
Tonight’s game begins at 7 at ShoWareCenter.
The Game
The Silvertips scored more than three goals for the first time since their 5-1 victory over Seattle on Jan. 16. It would seem that this team struggles to play with a lead – at least lately. It seems far more comfortable playing close games and has a knack for pulling out victories at the end.
That said the Tips were without two 20-year-olds in Stadnyk and Laurencelle, and the experience of those two could certainly help the Tips close out the game. Laurencelle will be back for tonight’s game at Kent while Stadnyk is day-to-day after leaving in the second period Wednesday.
Everett got a great first shift and created several chances. Yet the Tips managed to get outshot 11-8 in the opening stanza, and Constantine was less than pleased.
“We had way too many turnovers, so we gave them a lot more than we needed to and it was based on our turnovers,” he said. “I didn’t like that, but then I thought we came out and played good in the second and backed up the lead by having a good next period.”
The Tips eventually finished with a 32-30 shot advantage, but were outshot 25-17 in the first and third periods. The difference was the 15-5 second period shot lead for Everett.
The Turning Point
It was difficult to pinpoint a turning point because the Tips built a three-goal lead and controlled the score until the final five minutes. We’ll go with Carter Hart’s diving glove save early in the first period. It kept the game scoreless and the Tips coaching staff had emphasized scoring first in Friday’s game.
Three Stars
1. Everett F Matt Fonteyne: Fonteyne had the game-winning goal and two assists.
2. Everett F Dawson Leedahl: The captain had a goal and an assist.
3. Everett F Patrick Bajkov: The forward had a goal and two assists.
Honorable mention: Deven Sideroff scored two late power play goals to turn what seemed a foregone conclusion into a tight game.
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