T-birds edge the Tips 3-2

Published 11:29 pm Friday, October 21, 2011

EVERETT — The effort was there for the Everett Silvertips as they tried to bury the memory of their Wednesday debacle.

Unfortunately for the Tips, the execution came up a tad short.

Burke Gallimore broke a deadlock early in the third period and the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Ti

ps 3-2 Friday night at Comcast Arena.

Everett, coming off a disastrous 8-2 loss to Brandon and playing its first full game without injured captain Ryan Murray, improved its play considerably and twice took the lead.

However, power-play snipes by Seattle’s Marcel Noebels tied the game twice before Gallimore gave the T-birds the lead for good.

“I’m happy with the effort from everybody on the team,” said Tips overage center Josh Birkholz, who scored Everett’s second goal. “I don’t think the effort was the problem tonight. I think it’s still the little things we have to eliminate, making sure we get pucks deep and we’re not turning pucks over at the blue lines. I’m proud of everybody for how hard they worked tonight, but sometimes games don’t go your way.”

It certainly didn’t go Everett’s way on the deciding goal. With the score tied 2-2, Seattle defenseman Kyle Verdino, who finished with three assists, won a battle for the puck in the neutral zone and fired a shot just as he crossed the blue line. Everett goaltender Kent Simpson kicked a big rebound straight up the middle, and Gallimore slotted the puck back under Simpson to give the T-birds the lead 4 minutes, 17 seconds into the third.

Seattle goaltender Calvin Pickard then made the goal stand up. He finished with 27 saves to earn the win and he absorbed Everett’s late pressure, though the Tips weren’t able to generate many clear-cut scoring chances.

Special teams were the other decisive factor. Everett finished 0-for-3 on the power play. Meanwhile, Seattle finished 2-for-5 thanks to a pair of well-placed shots by Noebels. It highlighted an area of concern for the Tips as Everett has now sunk to 21st out of 22 teams in the WHL on the kill at 73.3 percent.

“You have to give credit to Noebels, he’s a good player,” Birkholz said. “But at the same time that’s an area we need to clean up. We’ve struggled with that the past couple games, but it’s something we can change. It’s just a matter of communicating out there and everybody knowing what their job is.”

Seattle improved to 4-4-0-0.

Simpson finished with 25 saves in goal for Everett (2-7-0-2), which now finds itself alone in last place in the U.S. Division.

Everett opened the scoring 4:31 into the game. Evan Morden’s shot from the point was slowed down by the defense, but Jari Erricson got just enough of a touch to the puck that it slid slowly under Pickard to give the Tips a 1-0 lead.

The Tips nearly made 2-0 late in the first period when Trent Lofthouse’s shot beat Pickard, but the puck ringed off the underside of the crossbar and stayed out.

Seattle then tied the game 1:36 into the second on Noebel’s first power-play goal of the game, his shot from the top of the right circle beating Simpson at the near post to make it 1-1.

Everett regained the lead at 6:28. After an extended period of Seattle pressure, Birkholz dug the puck out along the left boards and headed up the ice on a two-on-one. Birkholz shot himself and ripped one into the far-upper corner to make it 2-1.

But Noebels was back at it again at 12:36, again on the power play and again from the top of the right circle, this time beating Simpson to the far post through traffic to make it 2-2.

Slap shots

In addition to Murray, who’s expected to miss approximately five weeks because of a sprained ankle, the Tips also played without key forward Ryan Harrison. Harrison was questionable for Friday’s game after limping off the ice Wednesday against Brandon following a blocked shot. … Friday’s Pink the Rink game, designed to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer, raised $78,872 for the Providence Regional Breast Center.

Thunderbirds 3, Silvertips 2

Seattle 0 2 1–3

Everett 1 1 0–2

First Period–1, Everett, Erricson 2 (Morden, Winquist), 4:31. Penalties–Verdino, Seattle (interference), 4:58; Lofthouse, Everett (hooking), 11:07; Theodore, Seattle (holding), 13:12; Machacek, Seattle (fighting), 19:41; Mychan, Everett (fighting-game misconduct), 19:41.

Second Period–Seattle, Noebels 5 (Sutter, Verdino), 1:36 (pp). 3, Everett, Birkholz 7, 6:28. 4, Seattle, Noebels 6 (Sutter, Verdino), 12:36 (pp). Penalties–Lofthouse, Everett (tripping), 0:22; Elliot, Seattle (fighting), 1:51; Grayson, Everett (fighting), 1:51; Guiel, Seattle (checking from behind), 7:11; Boyd, Everett (slashing), 11:50; Fowlie, Everett (slashing), 19:52.

Third Period–5, Seattle, Gallimore 3 (Verdino, Noebels), 4:17. Penalties–Dolnik, Everett (tripping), 8:33.

Shots on goal–Seattle 6-9-13–28. Everett 10-9-10–29. Power-play opportunities–Seattle 2 of 5. Everett 0 of 3.

Goalies–Seattle, Pickard 4-3-0-0 (29 shots, 27 saves). Everett, Simpson 2-6-0-1 (28 shots, 25 saves).

A–6,544.

Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.