EVERETT—
Here are the three takeaways
Minulin pots his first
Artyom Minulin let out a roar after his slapshot found the back of the net and it was clear a great deal of frustration was being released in that moment.
The overage defenseman scored his first goal of the season on Saturday. After scoring 13 goals in 64 games last season for the Broncos, it took Minulin 32 games to pot his first with the Silvertips.
“Especially the longer it goes, it’s hard not to think about it,” Williams said of not scoring. “As much as they say it doesn’t bother them, let’s be honest, it bothers everybody.
“But I think he’s done a really good job of just sticking to the gameplan and what a play by Jake (Christiansen) to slide it over to him. … It was a big start for our team.”
Christiansen battles through illness
Nineteen-year-old defenseman Jake Christiansen didn’t practice the entire week with an illness and was left home for Everett’s 2-0 win at Tri-City on Friday. He was a gametime decision on Saturday, but ulimately dressed as a seventh defenseman and enjoyed a nice game, chipping in three assists.
“But I think he’s done a really good job of just sticking to the gameplan and what a play by Jake (Christiansen) to slide it over to him. … It was a big start for our team.”
Power play antidote
The Silvertips’ power-play was clicking on Saturday, going 5-for-9 and tying the season-high for most goals with the man advantage in the game.
Some of it came from a different look in terms of personnel — Everett’s second unit was Gage Goncalves, Max Patterson, Robbie Holmes, Gianni Fairbrother and Sahvan Khaira, but the recipe for success largely came from a revamped philosophy.
“It’s something to build off of,” Williams said. “I could see with our guys a sigh of relief, because pucks were bouncing our way a little more and some of those power play goals were coming off shinpads, where the last 10 or so games, those were nowhere to be found. A lot of them were right around the net, so it was a lot of guys scoring in the right areas.”
Bonus! Lethbridge top-six stays quiet
The Hurricanes boasts a great deal of star power among its top-six forward group, with three NHL prospects — Nick Henry (Avalanche), Jake Leschyshyn (Golden Knights) and Jordy Bellerive (Penguins) — constituting the top line and Dylan Cozen, who is projected to be picked in the top five of the upcoming NHL draft, centering two overagers — Taylor Ross and Jake Elmer — on the second line.
They accomplished little against the Silvertips on Saturday, and a lot of that credit goes to Everett’s top two lines — Andrusiak-Patterson-Fasko-Rudas and Holmes-Dewar-Kindopp — on Saturday.
“It was a real good job of those veteran lines, and to be heavy against them,” Williams said. “If you don’t play 200 feet and if you turn pucks over, they’re a transition team that can score goals. I think we did a really good job with our puck management.”
Quotables:
Andrusiak on the crowd: “Our crowd was electric tonight. I’m really good we could play good for them and it was an exciting game and (we) put up a lot of goals. Hopefully they keep coming out and supporting.”
Andrusiak on the bounceback: “It was a tough week mentally, but it was good to rebound and play our game and come away with two big wins.”
Kindopp on the bounceback weekend: “It was a big bounceback weekend for us. Tough weekend the weekend before, but we battled through during the week and it was a fun weekend for sure. We don’t quit and we know we’re a good team and I think that helped.”
Williams on if the Silvertips are done scoring: “We’re never done scoring. But we learn to appreciate it though.”
Horton’s three stars:
1. Zack Andrusiak: Who else? The overage forward notched his sixth career hat trick and chipped in an assist.
2. Connor Dewar: The captain scored a goal and assisted on another and played well against two very good centers, Leschyshyn and Cozens.
3. Bryce Kindopp: The 19-year-old forward netted a pair of goals and assisted on Andrusiak’s first.
Josh Horton covers the Everett Silvertips and AquaSox for The Everett Daily Herald. Follow him on Twitter (@joshhortonEDH) or reach out to him over email (jhorton@heraldnet.com).
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