Regina 4, Everett 2
Published 11:03 pm Friday, November 27, 2009
TALKING POINTS
Special teams are going to kill this team.
Everett went 0-for-8 on the power play tonight. Until their final two chances in the third period, the Tips didn’t really threaten.
Meanwhile, the Tips allowed the Pats to score on three of their five chances. And they didn’t bother wasting anyone’s time, either, as Regina scored all three of its power-play goals within 25 seconds of the start of the advantage.
And this just continues a bad trend for Everett. In the past seven games Everett is a meager 4-for-37 on the power play for 10.8 percent. Meanwhile, the Tips have allowed opponents to go 12-for-34 with the advantage for 35.3 percent. With numbers like those, it’s amazing the Tips are 4-3 during that span.
Everett now ranks 17th in the league on the power play (.178) and 18th on the penalty kill (.758). This is not something a team trying to be a contender wants to see, as evidenced by research done by the Vancouver Province’s Steve Ewen on the WHL’s past 10 champions.
Tips coach Craig Hartsburg went so far as to call out forwards Byron Froese and Kellan Tochkin during the postgame interview.
TURNING POINT
Everett finally cranked things up in the third period and with less than two minutes remaining, trailing 3-2, Tochkin had what appeared to be a certain goal denied by an unbelievable diving stick save from Regina goaltender Damien Ketlo, preserving the victory for the Pats.
HIT OF THE DAY
Everett’s Radko Gudas was on both the giving and receiving end of big hits tonight, being bowled over by Jordan Eberle late in the second period before doing the same to Hampus Gustafsson later in the shift.
THREE STARS
First star: Eberle. An empty netter completed a hat trick for a player who was every bit as good as the hype.
Second star: Jordan Weal, Regina. Three assists, he and Eberle tormented the Tips on the power play.
Third star: Thomas Heemskerk, Everett. 36 saves in goal for the Tips, including some spectacular ones.
The Herald’s honorable mention: Ketlo. Was having a ho-hum game until stopping all 20 shots he faced in the third period, finishing with 34 total.
BOX SCORE
