EVERETT — Remi Laurencelle grabbed the monkey off his back and hurled it to the ice.
The monkey was metaphorical, but the gesture and sentiment were very real as the Everett Silvertips’ leading scorer broke a 13-game scoreless streak with two goals, including the game-winner, as the Tips beat the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-3 before 7,876 fans Saturday at Xfinity Arena.
“You can’t let it get to you,” Laurencelle said. “Obviously I was lucky enough to score tonight, but it’s one of those things where you can’t really focus on and can’t really dwell. You just gotta worry about the wins and getting the two points instead of actually worrying about your stats, so I think that’s one big thing.”
The U.S. Division-leading Silvertips (34-20-2-2, 72 points) surrendered three power-play goals, but answered each time to continue their season-long mastery over the second-place T-Birds (32-23-3-0, 67 points). Everett is 6-0-1 against Seattle this season.
“I think every game is a battle (against Seattle) for sure,” said Everett defenseman Noah Juulsen, who earned first star honors with two assists. “It’s kind of like playoff hockey when we play these guys every game. We’ve got the outcome we wanted so far, but we just have to keep pushing.”
Laurencelle’s team-high 27th goal came from a sharp angle off a pass from linemate Carson Stadnyk with 16 seconds to go. It was particularly gratifying for Laurencelle as the 20-year-old took the penalty less than two minutes earlier that saw Seattle tie the game 3-3.
“You can’t really dwell on those things either,” Laurencelle said. “I’m just happy I got to make up for it.”
The Silvertips, already down one forward from their fourth line, were also without defenseman Jake Christiansen who was sick. Everett drew on the energy of the near-sellout crowd to win for just the second time in its last six games and snap Seattle’s four-game winning streak.
“If there ever was a time when you wanted to derive some energy from a rivalry and a crowd tonight would be it,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “We’re short players. I think we give this one to our fans. They helped energize us. There was a lot of noise in the building, which created some energy, and it’s Seattle, which is obviously a big, big rivalry, and between those things we had more energy than we had (Friday) night.”
With Everett up 2-1 through two periods, Laurencelle scored his first goal since Jan. 15 when he flicked a wrister from the slot that snuck through traffic and past Seattle goaltender Logan Flodell just 18 seconds into the third period to push Everett’s lead to 3-1.
But Juulsen was assessed a penalty on the next shift and Ryan Gropp walked in on the ensuing power play and snuck it past Everett goalie Carter Hart at 1:23 in the third to make it 3-2.
Nearly 17 minutes later Laurencelle was whistled for hooking, and Seattle’s Ethan Bear buried Seattle’s third power-play goal of the night to re-tie the game and set up Laurencelle’s game-winner.
The T-Birds took the lead at 3:26 in the opening period. Hart blocked a shot with his stick and went to glove the puck, but Donovan Neuls beat him to it and stuck it between Hart’s legs for a power-play goal and a 1-0 lead.
Devon Skoleski drew the Tips even when he took advantage of a turnover deep in Seattle’s zone and flicked it past Flodell’s left shoulder from the slot to make it 1-1 at 5:14 in the first.
Stadnyk, stationed at the right post, broke the 1-1 deadlock when he redirected Matt Fonteyne’s cross-ice pass from the left circle into the net on the power play at 10:49 in the second. That was the only goal of the frame.
Everett had 36 shots while holding the T-Birds to 23. Hart finished with 20 saves while Flodell had 32 stops.
“Our D worked hard,” Constantine said. “Most Seattle games they outshoot teams by quite a bit, so the fact we were able to score some goals and able to outshoot them a little bit, I think if you look back at our wins against Seattle they outshoot us quite a bit and we manage a way to win. But tonight we managed to win and outshoot them a little bit.”
The Silvertips return to the ice Sunday when they play host to the Spokane Chiefs at 4 p.m. at Xfinity Arena.
Silvertips 4, Thunderbirds 3
Seattle 1 0 2 — 3
Everett 1 1 2 — 4
1st Period—1, Seattle, Neuls 11 3:26 (PP). 2, Everett, Skoleski 6 5:14. Penalties—Skoleski Evt (hooking), 1:51; Hauf Sea (holding), 12:46; served by Millar Evt (too many men), 14:24.
2nd Period—3, Everett, Stadnyk 16 (Fonteyne, Juulsen), 10:49 (PP). Penalties—Eansor Sea (hooking), 10:38; served by Uhrich Sea (too many men), 17:23.
3rd Period—4, Everett, Laurencelle 26 (Juulsen), 0:18. 5, Seattle, Gropp 28 (Bear), 1:23 (PP). 6, Seattle, Bear 16 (Barzal, Gropp), 18:06 (PP). 7, Everett, Laurencelle 27 (Stadnyk), 19:44. Penalties—Juulsen Evt (holding opp. stick), 0:44; Laurencelle Evt (hooking), 17:16.
Shots on Goal—Seattle 9-5-9-23. Everett 14-14-8-36.
Power Play Opportunities—Seattle 3 / 4; Everett 1 / 3.
Goalies—Seattle, Flodell 18-13-3-0 (36 shots-32 saves). Everett, Hart 32-19-1-2 (23 shots-20 saves).
A—7,876
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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