KENNEWICK — The Everett Silvertips have clinched home-ice advantage for the postseason — that much is certain.
But the Tri-City Americans are fighting to maintain an outside chance at keeping their own decade-plus playoff streak intact.
The Americans looked like the more desperate team Saturday as Tri-City defeated Everett 4-1 before 4,248 fans at the Toyota Center in the final meeting of the regular season between the two teams.
Tri-City (32-34-2-1, 67 points) moved within four points of Spokane (31-28-5-4, 71 points) for the final Western Conference playoff slot. The Americans have just three games remaining while the Chiefs have four. The teams meet once more on the last day of the regular season.
Meanwhile, the Tips (37-24-4-3, 81 points) saw their hopes of winning a second-straight U.S. Division title grow even slimmer as Seattle defeated Portland 3-2 Saturday. Everett has won just two of its last nine games and five of its last 16.
The silver lining, however, was that the Tips clinched home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs by virtue of the Thunderbirds’ win over the Winterhawks.
Only Patrick Bajkov’s goal with nine seconds remaining in the game prevented the Tips from being shut out for the second straight game. It was Everett’s first goal since the 4:34 mark of the second period in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over Portland — a span of more than 155 minutes of game time.
The Silvertips were without the services of captain Dawson Leedahl for undisclosed reasons Saturday. Leedahl missed about a month with a broken hand before returning in Tuesday’s win over Portland.
Brandon Carlo gave the Americans the 1-0 lead when he flipped a puck off Everett goalie Carter Hart’s back and into the net from the side post at 16:40 in the first.
In the second period Hart went behind the net to attempt to clear the puck. But he played the puck right to the tape of Parker AuCoin, who converted at the open net for a 2-0 lead at 6:14.
Jordan Roy potted a rebound of Nolan Yaremko’s shot at 2:04 in the third to push the lead to 3-0.
The Tips had a five-minute power play midway through the final period when Parker Bowles was assessed a game misconduct penalty and ejected after a slashing call against Dario Winkler. Everett was unable to convert.
The Tips pulled Hart with four minutes to go, but Jordan Topping scored an empty-netter at 16:17 to make it 4-0.
Bajkov scored when his shot from the right circle deflected past Tri-City netminder Nicholas Sanders to give Everett its only goal.
Hart finished with 21 saves in a losing effort. Sanders saved the first 25 shots he faced before Bajkov sullied what would have been Sanders’ first career shutout.
The Silvertips play at Portland today at 5.
Everett 0 0 1 — 1
Tri-City 1 1 2 — 4
1st Period—1, Tri-City, Carlo 3 (Bowles, Geekie), 16:40. Penalties—Carlo Tc (hooking), 0:40; served by Winkler Evt (too many men), 7:11.
2nd Period-2, Tri-City, AuCoin 5 6:14. Penalties-Pfeifer Evt (elbowing), 3:46.
3rd Period—3, Tri-City, Roy 2 (Yaremko), 2:04. 4, Tri-City, Topping 31 (Geekie), 16:17. 5, Everett, Bajkov 18 (Fonteyne, Skrumeda), 19:51. Penalties—MacDonald Evt (high sticking), 5:48; Bowles Tc (major-slashing, game misconduct), 8:41.
Shots on Goal—Everett 5-9-12-26. Tri-City 9-10-6-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Everett 0/2; Tri-City 0/3.
Goalies—Everett, Hart 35-23-1-3 (25 shots-21 saves). Tri-City, Sanders 8-6-0-1 (26 shots-25 saves).
A—4,248
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