Early in the third period of Friday’s second-round playoff opener, Everett Silvertips forward Matt Fonteyne helped turn a potential disaster into a two-goal Everett lead.
Seattle forward Scott Eansor, the top penalty-killer for the Thunderbirds, nearly scored a game-tying short-handed goal. But Everett goalie Carter Hart made the save and then Fonteyne took over.
The 18-year-old secured the rebound inside the Tips zone, sliced his way through the neutral zone and toward the Seattle net before scoring his third goal of the playoffs to give Everett a 2-0 lead.
“That was a ‘get out of your seat (play),’” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “You can see when a guy picks up the puck sometimes, their intent, and it’s happened a few other times where I’ve seen a guy pick up a puck and it’s like, ‘man, they’re on a mission.’ It kind of looked like (Fonteyne) was on a mission even when he picked up that puck in our end. He had the look of someone who wanted to make something happen.”
For those who recall such things, the coast-to-coast goal was reminiscent of the overtime game-winner scored by Seattle star Mathew Barzal in the T-Birds’ 3-2 win over the Tips on Jan. 9.
“I wasn’t expecting that to happen,” Fonteyne said. “I saw their guy fall down so I tried to take it and then I kind of blacked out, to be honest with you. But I’m glad I got the goal.”
Hart had a unique view of Fonteyne’s goal that was Everett’s lone power-play tally of the nine chances the Tips had on the man advantage.
“(It was) definitely a highlight-reel goal,” Hart said. “That was a pretty sick goal by Fontsy and some pretty slick moves there. He roofed it on him pretty good. It’s nice to see a guy who works hard like that get rewarded like that.”
The Tips went on to win 3-0 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Fonteyne now has three goals and three assists for six points in five postseason games so far.
That’s not a bad output for a guy who scored 16 goals and had 32 assists in 72 regular-season games. Fonteyne scored one goal and had seven assists in 10 games against Seattle in the regular season.
The Tips continually repeat the mantra that “it takes four games to win a series” and that remained the case after Friday’s opener. However, the Tips have yet to lose in the 2016 postseason and are the only team to go 5-0 in their first five playoff games this year. The postseason success comes after the Tips won just three times in their final 13 regular-season games.
“It’s a new chapter in that story of the season,” Constantine said earlier in the week. “I’ve seen some real heroes in playoff time that were unexpected heroes, but that’s the neat part of the playoffs. It’s why everybody gets excited about it. You have a new lease on life and chance to make something of your season.”
The Silvertips held a 6-2-1-1 record against Seattle during the regular season, but the Thunderbirds won the final three games of the season series. In those games Seattle goalie Landon Bow allowed only one goal before surrendering three on Friday.
The series continues with Game 2 on Sunday beginning at 5 p.m. at the ShoWare Center in Kent. The series then shifts to Xfinity Arena on Wednesday and Friday.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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