The Game Story (updated)
KENT – The Everett Silvertips entered Friday’s grudge match against the Seattle Thunderbirds with a chance to clinch home-ice advantage and move into a virtual tie for the U.S. Division lead.
They did neither as the division-leading Seattle Thunderbirds scored a first-period goal and then handed the game over to goaltender Landon Bow, who recorded 21 saves in a 1-0 victory before 6,046 fans at ShoWareCenter.
“That’s why they got him,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said of Bow. “They got him because they wanted to be solid in net. They’ve got a solid team so they picked up Bow on purpose to make sure they had all their bases covered and he does a nice job for them.”
Bow has a league-best seven shutouts. Friday’s effort eclipsed the half-dozen put up by Everett counterpart Carter Hart.
Bow recorded shutouts in Seattle’s final two games against Everett at ShoWareCenter. Throw in a one-goal allowed performance in 65 minutes last week Friday at Xfinity Arena and Bow has held the Tips to a single tally in their last 180 minutes against him.
“He is a big guy, too,” Everett forward Matt Fonteyne said of Bow, who is listed as 6-foot-5 on the roster. “I think the main thing with him is to keep shooting the puck on him and crashing the net, because he’s not going to give you any easy ones. You have to work for it.”
The T-Birds (41-23-3-0, 85 points) have now won nine straight and 13 of their last 14. Meanwhile Everett (37-23-4-3, 81 points) lost for the sixth time its last eight games.
The Tips won six of the first seven games between the two teams this season, but the T-Birds won the final three to finish 4-6 against Everett this year. The Tips were 6-2-1-1 against Seattle for a 14-8 point advantage. Everett’s magic number to clinch home-ice advantage remains at two points.
“They’re obviously getting hot at the right time,” Fonteyne said. “Every game we’ve had against them has been close. Some bounces went our way some games, some have been going their way the last couple of games. I think every single time we play them it can go either way.”
Ryan Gropp set up the only goal of the game when he carried the puck into the Everett zone and fed a pass to Nick Holowko at the right post who flicked it over Everett goalie Carter Hart for the 1-0 lead at 6:41 in the opening period.
Perhaps the biggest highlight of the second period came at 2:03 when Everett’s Brian King and Seattle’s Brandon Schuldhaus dropped gloves for a brief fight. The officials quickly broke up the scuffle and both went to the box for five minutes.
“(King) is not exactly the most demonstrative kid in the world, but good for him,” Constantine said with a quick chuckle. “He’ll grow into a good player in this league. He’s young right now and is good now, so I can’t wait to see his progress over the next four years.”
The teams combined for just 11 shots in the second period with a fruitless power play opportunity for each side as the score remained unchanged.
Fonteyne had perhaps the best chance just 20 seconds into the third when a defensive breakdown by Seattle in its defensive zone gave the Everett center a look that he clanged off the post.
“It kind of ended up right there and I just tried to get it on net,” Fonteyne said. “I kind of blacked out at the time, but it was a good look right at the end there.”
Constantine pulled Hart with 2:14 to go in the third. The Tips had several quality looks, but Bow was able to turn away each opportunity to preserve the victory.
“I think we got a lot more chances than we did in the first two periods,” Fonteyne said. “They’re a really good defensive team too. They play hard and they’re a tough team to play against. It’s always hard-hitting whenever we play them. They’re a good playoff team I think. Hopefully we meet them in the playoffs.”
The Tips finished 0-for-3 on the power play, but that’s not surprising since Seattle is the top penalty killing team in the league. Everett also held Seattle scoreless on two man advantages.
Everett travels to Kennewick for a game with Tri-City tonight at 7.
The Game
OK, this isn’t really about the game. It’s about race for the U.S. Division crown.
The chase isn’t over, but the Tips came up empty on their best chance to make a final, convincing push. Given the way Seattle (winners of 13 of 14) and Everett (losers of six of eight) have each been playing, the outlook isn’t brilliant for the Tips.
That being said…
Seattle plays Portland three more times and once against both Spokane and Tri-City. The Winterhawks are just one point up on Spokane and will be looking to stave off the Chiefs for the third seed. Spokane will be looking to overtake Portland.
Tri-City has lost three straight and stands a good chance of being eliminated before next Friday’s game with Seattle, but you never know.
Suffice to say, the Tips probably need to win out and then get a lot of help from the Winterhawks to have a shot at retaining the title.
Now, for the game…
I would say it was a carbon copy (Constantine called it “a mirror image”) of the game between these two teams on Feb. 27. The only difference was that the T-Birds didn’t get an open-netter from Mathew Barzal this time.
“It’s just hard to stop Barzal’s line,” Constantine said. “They don’t need a lot of chances so they sneak away on you one time and put it in the back of the net.
“Two games in a row now down here Barzal’s line has been the difference of a one-goal game.”
The Turning Point
Fonteyne’s miss off the left post 20 seconds into the third period was Everett’s best chance to tie.
Three Stars
1. Seattle G Landon Bow: The overage netminder had 21 saves for his second shutout in his last three games against Everett.
2. Seattle F Nick Holowko: Holowko scored the game’s only goal off a brilliant feed from Ryan Gropp.
3. Everett G Carter Hart: The 17-year-old had 24 saves in a losing effort.
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