LANGLEY, B.C. — A season ago the Everett Silvertips advanced to the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs despite scoring the second-fewest goals in the regular season.
And, with the Tips graduating three of their top five point producers from last season, conventional wisdom says goals would continue to be a rare and precious commodity.
But Everett scored early and often during Friday’s WHL opener as the Tips defeated the Vancouver Giants 7-3 before 4,875 fans in the Giants’ first game at their new home, the Langley Events Centre.
In fact, Everett matched last year’s single-game high of seven goals, achieved in a 7-4 win at Spokane on Dec. 16.
“Not what you would predict,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “But I’ve always said that opening nights are the least predictable games of your season.. They’re probably the worst indicator of how you would be as a team. Opening nights are opening nights. There is fanfare, there are tributes, it’s a new arena, it’s a recipe for disaster for a home team to open with a new building and all of that.”
Friday evening began with a tribute to the late Gordie Howe. “Mr. Hockey,” who passed away in June, was a part owner of the Giants franchise and his family remains in the ownership group.
The Tips (1-0-0-0) quickly assumed control of the game as they scored the game’s first four goals and never allowed the Giants closer than three the remainder of the game.
“It was a really big thing through the week of practice,” said Tips overage forward Graham Millar, who scored twice. “We wanted to have a good start and we wanted to come out flying, and I think we did a pretty good job.”
Devon Skoleski also scored twice while Sean Richards scored in his Silvertips debut as Everett out-shot the Giants 33-23.
Both teams were missing a number of key performers. The Giants have six players still away at NHL training camps while the Tips are missing goalie Carter Hart, defenseman Noah Juulsen and forward Eetu Tuulola.
“We’ll take the points for sure,” Constantine said. “I’m glad our guys got some goals. That’s nice to see. But you cannot predict anything about a season based on a night like tonight.”
Trailing 4-0, Dawson Holt put the Giants on the board when he flicked his own rebound past Mario Petit at 17:05 in the first. Jake Christiansen pushed Everett’s lead back to four on the very next shift when he found the net from the left circle and Everett took a 5-1 lead into the first intermission.
The teams traded goals in the second. Holt’s second goal of the game came at 9:35 in the second to to cut Everett’s lead to 5-2. Richards answered when he took the puck to the boards and curled back out to the right circle before firing a wrister past Vancouver netminder Ryan Kubic at at 17:01 in the second to push the advantage to 6-2.
Everett and Vancouver traded goals once again the third as Millar found the net at 18:33 before Jack Flaman tallied the final goal at 19:32.
“We’ll take the confidence we can from it and the positives we can out of it,” Millar said. “We still have a lot to learn and it’s going to be a lot harder as the year goes on and guys go back to their teams. We’ll take the positives and keep going strong.”
Lucas Skrumeda had three assists while Matt Fonteyne and Patrick Bajkov each had two. Petit finished with 20 saves to earn his first win of the season.
Bryce Kindopp gave Everett a 1-0 lead with a power play goal for his first career WHL point when wrapped a rebound past Kubic’s left pad for the game’s first goal at 2:59.
Millar added Everett’s second goal at 8:28 off the rush on a feed from Bajkov.
Skoleski then pushed the lead to 4-0 with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart. The first came on Everett’s second power play at 9:35, and the second when Skrumeda found him wide open at the right post at 11:27.
The teams square off again at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Xfinity Arena in Everett’s home opener.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
Everett 5 1 1 – 7
Vancouver 1 1 1 – 3
1st Period-1, Everett, Kindopp 1 (Sutter, Skrumeda), 2:59 (PP). 2, Everett, Millar 1 (Bajkov, Fonteyne), 8:28. 3, Everett, Skoleski 1 (Fonteyne, Kemp), 9:35 (PP). 4, Everett, Skoleski 2 (Skrumeda), 11:27. 5, Vancouver, Holt 1 (Wesley), 17:05. 6, Everett, Christiansen 1 (Mucka), 17:42. Penalties-Osipov Van (interference), 2:02; Babych Van (hooking), 9:08; Walker Evt (interference), 19:40.
2nd Period-7, Vancouver, Holt 2 (Wesley, Brown), 9:35. 8, Everett, Richards 1 (Christiansen), 17:01. Penalties-Plouffe Van (delay of game), 7:06; served by Skoleski Evt (too many men), 11:06; Hardy Van (tripping), 17:48.
3rd Period-9, Everett, Millar 2 (Bajkov, Fonteyne), 18:33. 10, Vancouver, Flaman 1 (Plouffe), 19:28. Penalties-Richards Evt (roughing), 4:38; Flaman Van (roughing), 4:38; Sutter Evt (hooking), 10:54.
Shots on Goal-Everett 19-8-6-33. Vancouver 5-9-9-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Everett 2 / 4; Vancouver 0 / 3.
Goalies-Everett, Petit 1-0-0-0 (23 shots-20 saves). Vancouver, Kubic 0-1-0-0 (33 shots-26 saves).
A-4,875
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
