EVERETT — Connor Dewar boldly announced his presence a year ago when he scored his first Western Hockey League goal in his first career game.
Dewar went on to tally 11 goals and seven assists en route to Everett Silvertips Rookie of the Year honors. However, Dewar found himself without a goal in 14 games this season when the Tips entertained the Victoria Royals Saturday.
The 17-year-old broke his goal-less drought when he potted the game-winner in overtime as Everett knocked off the Royals 2-1 before 4,388 fans at Xfinity Arena.
“Everyone slumps,” said Dewar, who has seven assists and has spent the past two weeks centering Everett’s top line as Matt Fonteyne remains sidelined with a shoulder injury. “It wasn’t the first slump of my career and it won’t be my last.”
The U.S. Division-leading Tips (11-2-2-0, 24 points) have now won three straight games and have points in their last four contests. Victoria (8-7-2-0, 18 points) lost its second straight overtime after falling 5-4 at Tri-City on Friday.
“When you look back at the goals that Dewar scores they seem to be in moments like this, where if you talked about a clutch player he’d be that kind of guy,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said.
Dewar’s game-winner came 46 seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime session and was set up by a strong move at the net by linemate Dominic Zwerger. The Austrian deked Victoria goalie Griffen Outhouse to get him sprawled on the ice before firing a shot that rebounded right to Dewar for the tap-in winner.
“(Zwerger) has been a little bit under the weather the past week, but he’s battling through it and is getting his energy back, and he got better as the game went on,” Constantine said. “He didn’t score the goal, but he made such a good move that the goalie had no chance.”
Outhouse was the tough-luck loser as he finished with 40 saves. Everett goaltender Carter Hart saved 26 of Victoria’s 27 shots for his second victory over the Royals in the last eight days.
“I think the key in playing against them is just sticking to our structure and sticking to our system, and I think we frustrated them a little bit tonight,” Hart said. “It was good to see how much we battled in the third and really took control and it was good to see our group come together like that.”
Both Hart and Outhouse withstood power play onslaughts with several key saves early in the third to keep the game knotted at 1-1. Neither team capitalized on the man advantage as the Tips finished 0-for-2 and Victoria was 0-for-3.
“(Victoria has) a good power play and I thought we did a good job of limiting their scoring chances and keeping them to the outside,” Hart said. “We made some huge blocks and (were) some warriors out there tonight sacrificing and putting their bodies on the line. I think that’s what got us the win.”
Tyler Soy gave the Royals a 1-0 lead at 5:20 in the first when he skated in from the right circle and flicked a wrister past Hart for an unassisted goal. That was the only tally in the opening frame as the Royals outshot the Tips 8-5 in the opening stanza.
The Tips reached the scoreboard at 12:19 in the second period while on a delayed penalty. With Hart on the bench for an extra skater, Patrick Bajkov’s pass from the left circle found Noah Juulsen at the right post for the tap-in goal and a 1-1 tie.
“The advantage we had tonight is that’s their fourth game in five nights and this is only our second game this week,” Constantine said. “As the game went on we were able to maybe have a little more in our tank than they had in their tank. That’s the only difference, I think, is that they were tired.”
Everett returns to action Wednesday when it plays host to Red Deer.
Silvertips 2, Royals 1 (OT)
Victoria 1 0 0 0 — 1
Everett 0 1 0 1 — 2
1st Period—1, Victoria, Soy 9 5:20. Penalties—Juulsen Evt (elbowing), 14:27; Price Vic (holding), 17:20.
2nd Period—2, Everett, Juulsen 5 (Bajkov, Tuulola), 12:19. Penalties—Hein Evt (roughing), 8:52; Gagnon Vic (hooking), 14:12; Zwerger Evt (embellishment), 14:12.
3rd Period—No Scoring. Penalties—Tuulola Evt (hooking), 5:49; Pachal Vic (kneeing), 8:46.
OT Period—3, Everett, Dewar 1 (Zwerger, Davis), 0:46. Penalties—No Penalties
Shots on Goal—Victoria 8-9-10-0-27. Everett 5-15-21-1-42.
Power Play Opportunities—Victoria 0 / 3; Everett 0 / 2.
Goalies—Victoria, Outhouse 8-6-1-0 (42 shots-40 saves). Everett, Hart 8-2-1-0 (27 shots-26 saves).
A—4,388
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