Silvertips rally past Thunderbirds for 1st win of preseason

EVERETT — Somewhere in the third period, the Everett Silvertips offense found itself.

Trailing by two early in the third period, the Tips scored five unanswered goals against the rival Seattle Thunderbirds and held on for a 7-4 win before several hundred fans on the second day of the Delta Hotels Preseason Classic.

“I thought it was a real resilient effort,” Everett head coach Dennis Williams said. “We could have packed it in 4-2 in an exhibition game and used that as an excuse.”

Dawson Butt started the comeback when he poked home a shot from a scrum at 7:27 in the third. Matt Fonteyne potted a rebound at 14:42 to tie it, and Connor Dewar scored the go-ahead goal just 35 seconds later.

Riley Bruce gave Everett a cushion with a wrister at 17:22, and Dewar added an empty-netter at 18:55. Riley Sutter assisted both goals.

“I think that line down the stretch of Sutter, Dewar and (Sean) Richards was fantastic for us and really led us through that,” Williams said.

Dewar had two goals and Fonteyne had a goal and two assists.

Trailing 1-0, the T-birds earned a power play in the second. Zach Andrusiak redirected a pass from Elijah Brown past Blake Lyda to tie the game 1-1 at the 5:43 mark.

Seattle took the lead just 13 seconds later when Sami Moilanen flicked a wrister past Lyda from the slot. However, Everett answered at the other end at 6:22 when Kevin Davis converted in a net-front scramble to make it 2-2.

Donovan Neuls regained the lead for Seattle with a backdoor tap-in at 9:13 on a 5-on-3 power play.

The second period was marred by several dust-ups that saw a number of players from each team confined to their respective penalty boxes.

“Going into the third, we just said, ‘Hey let’s go back to skating,’” Williams said. “I was real proud of the way we competed in the second even though we were down 3-2 we stuck up for one another. Just great leadership. I thought the guys played really hard down the stretch.”

Brown scored at 5:40 in the third to push Seattle’s lead to 4-2 and set up Everett’s comeback.

The Silvertips took the 1-0 lead via the power play at 10:58 in the opening period.

Patrick Bajkov found himself wide open at the right circle. He took a cross-crease pass from Fonteyne and slammed it past Seattle goalie Matt Berlin for the lead and his third goal of the preseason.

There was no formal announcement from the Silvertips, but 2002-born blueliner Dylan Anderson started at right defense for Everett alongside Kevin Davis.

Lyda played the first half of the game and recorded 14 saves on 17 shots. Danton Belluk replaced him halfway through the second period and had 13 saves on 14 shots.

Brown and Andrusiak each had a goal and an assist for Seattle. Nolan Volcan had two assists.

The Tips conclude play at the Classic at 7 p.m. on Sunday when they face the Portland Winterhawks.

Silvertips 7, Thunderbirds 4

Seattle 0 3 1 – 4

Everett 1 1 5 – 7

1st Period-1, Everett, Bajkov 3 (Fonteyne, Davis), 10:58 (PP). Penalties-Brown Sea (tripping), 1:22; Bajkov Evt (hooking), 5:56; Hyman Sea (holding), 10:16; Anderson Evt (tripping), 12:00; Andrusiak Sea (hooking), 16:13.

2nd Period-2, Seattle, Andrusiak 1 (Brown, Ottenbreit), 5:43 (PP). 3, Seattle, Moilanen 1 (Volcan, Tyszka), 5:57. 4, Everett, Davis 1 (Fonteyne, Fasko-Rudas), 6:22. 5, Seattle, Neuls 1 (Andrusiak, Strand), 9:13 (PP). Penalties-Bajkov Evt (cross checking), 4:08; Lee Sea (roughing), 7:34; Ormsby Sea (roughing), 7:34; Dewar Evt (boarding), 7:34; Fairbrother Evt (roughing), 7:34; Richards Evt (roughing), 7:34; Carpendale Sea (roughing), 8:33; Volcan Sea (roughing), 8:33; Bruce Evt (roughing, roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 8:33; Liwiski Evt (roughing), 8:33; Centazzo Evt (roughing), 14:02; Hyman Sea (roughing), 17:46; Ottenbreit Sea (roughing), 19:11; Centazzo Evt (inter. on goaltender), 19:11.

3rd Period-6, Seattle, Brown 1 (Volcan), 5:40. 7, Everett, Butt 1 (Mitchell, Azhgirei), 7:27. 8, Everett, Fonteyne 1 (Fasko-Rudas, Moar), 14:42. 9, Everett, Dewar 1 (Anderson, Richards), 15:17. 10, Everett, Bruce 1 (Richards, Sutter), 17:22. 11, Everett, Dewar 2 (Sutter), 18:55 (EN). Penalties-Azhgirei Evt (elbowing), 19:59.

Shots on Goal-Seattle 11-9-11-31. Everett 5-11-18-34.

Power Play Opportunities-Seattle 2 / 6; Everett 1 / 4.

Goalies-Seattle, Berlin 0-1-0-0 (32 shots-27 saves). Everett, Lyda 0-0-0-0 (17 shots-14 saves); Belluk 1-0-0-0 (14 shots-13 saves).

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