Tips’ early surge brings victory

Published 9:00 pm Friday, February 20, 2004

EVERETT – In close games, everyone remembers the tension of final minutes, hanging on the edge of their seats as the result hangs in the balance.

But sometimes the most pivotal moments of close games happen early. Such was the case for the Everett Silvertips on Friday night at the Everett Events Center.

Everett both scored and killed off a huge five-on-three penalty in the first 12 minutes of the game, and the Silvertips defeated the Portland Winter Hawks 2-1 in a crucial U.S. Division matchup before a crowd of 6,966.

Marc Desloges and Curtis Billsten scored the goals for Everett (29-21-8-2), which moved four points ahead of Portland (28-25-6-2) for second place in the division and remained one point behind first-place Tri-City, which beat Kelowna 4-2. The Silvertips also moved within two games of Red Deer’s record of 31 wins by an expansion franchise with 12 games to play in the season.

“That was a huge win,” Billsten said. “That was playoff hockey out there. We’re just focusing on coming out hard and making sure we’re prepared for every game.”

Coming out hard was a problem the last time the Silvertips played host to the Winter Hawks one week earlier. In that game, Everett fell into an early 2-0 hole and had to scratch and claw to earn a 2-2 tie. But this time Everett was the team that came out on fire, building a 2-0 lead and hanging on for victory.

“Last Friday we had them in our building and we didn’t really like how we played,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “This is our last chance at home against them in the regular season, so it was important to us to play a little better than we did last Friday, and we did.”

Everett’s fast start began with Desloges’ goal just 4:48 into the game. With the Silvertips on the power play, Bryan Nathe led an Everett rush, skated across the blue line then slipped a pass to the left to Desloges. Desloges controlled the puck with his first touch, then wristed a shot just inside the post with his second, giving the Tips a 1-0 lead. It was Desloges’ 10th goal of the season.

Soon after, Everett found itself in a bind. Devin Welsh was called for high sticking at 10:54, then Barry Horman was called for holding 10 seconds later, giving Portland 1:50 of five-on-three. Portland coach Mike Williamson understood the importance of the moment, burning his timeout halfway through the advantage in an attempt to ensure the tying goal.

However, a combination of tenacious work in front of net by Everett’s penalty killers, blinding saves by Michael Wall and off-target Portland shots allowed the Tips to escape unscathed.

“That was huge,” Constantine said of the penalty kill. “At that point in the game it was really, really big. Our guys just did a fabulous job, maybe highlighted by (John) Dahl’s block with 30-40 seconds left. That was the biggest of a very big sequence.”

The Silvertips then doubled their lead with a picture-perfect goal at 10:22 of the second period. Tyler Dietrich received a clearing pass along the left boards, skated across the red line, then feathered a pass out in front of Riley Armstrong headed up the middle.

Armstrong drew the defense, then left a pass for Billsten following in on the right. Billsten scored to make it 2-0 with his sixth of the season.

Portland finally got a goal back at 9:10 of the third period, Darrell May scoring his 14th of the season on a wraparound. But the Winter Hawks couldn’t score again, despite heavy pressure.

“I thought Everett basically put the game away in the first 30 minutes,” Williamson said. “Our guys were definitely geared up, but our emotions got the best of us. We were very disjointed and ran around and couldn’t really seem to get our composure until halfway through the second period.”

Wall finished with 22 saves. Krister Toews made 29 stops in goal for Portland.

Slap shots: Armstrong increased his streak of consecutive games with a point to six. … The Silvertips played shorthanded Friday. Forwards Torrie Wheat and Martin Ruzicka were scratched because of the flu, and forward Chad Bassen and defenseman Cody Thoring are still sidelined with knee injuries, meaning just 19 players suited up for the Tips. … Portland agitator Robin Big Snake didn’t receive a suspension from the league and was in the lineup Friday. Big Snake’s status was questionable because of game misconduct picked up Wednesday for a hit that sent Kelowna defenseman Shea Weber to the hospital. The hit was ruled accidental. However, the Winter Hawks played without key defenseman Braydon Coburn. The Portland captain was a late scratch with the flu.