Everett Silvertips rout Brayden Point-less Moose Jaw Warriors
Published 12:27 am Saturday, November 28, 2015
The Game (Story)
EVERETT – Home is where most people enjoy spending the holidays, and Xfinity Arena’s home ice has proven quite hospitable to the Everett Silvertips during Thanksgiving week indeed.
Graham Millar and Remi Laurencelle each scored twice as the Silvertips won their second straight at Xfinity Arena 5-0 before 5,278 fans Friday.
It was something of a breakout game for Millar, who added an assist to his fifth and sixth goals of the season.
“I think I was just going to the net and that’s where you’ll find the puck usually,” Millar said. “(Noah) Juulsen made a nice play to me backdoor (on the first goal), and the other one I just kind of banged it.”
Birthday boy Patrick Bajkov, who turned 18 Friday, and Carson Stadnyk each tallied two assists as the Silvertips (13-7-0-2, 28 points) won their ninth home game in 12 outings this season.
“We’ve got good fan support,” defenseman Lucas Skrumeda said. “They’re loud, they’re intimidating for the other team. I don’t know what it is – we’ve got to find a way to play like that on the road.”
Moose Jaw (12-9-4-1, 29 points) continued to struggle on its swing through the U.S. Division. The Warriors have won just once in their last seven games and are still without WHL leading scorer in Brayden Point. The Moose Jaw forward has now missed five games with an undisclosed upper body injury.
The Tips have their own injury concerns. Captain Dawson Leedahl started the game, but left after his first shift with a lower body injury. Leedahl was taken to the hospital for tests and head coach Kevin Constantine said there is concern the injury “might be fairly serious.”
Leedahl’s absence forced the Everett coaching staff to juggle its offensive lines, but that didn’t seem to hinder the Tips, who out-shot Moose Jaw 30-14.
“It was a scramble on the bench.,” Constantine said. “We’re used to kind of saying what center is up and everybody knows who is going in. Tonight it was constant juggling. A lot of guys played in a lot of different positions… I think our guys did a pretty good job adjusting to that.”
A first-period fight seemed to jumpstart the Silvertips offense. Everett’s Brandon Ralph and Moose Jaw’s Marc McNulty dropped gloves in the first period. Ralph garnered a five-minute penalty for fighting, while McNulty received two for instigating, five for fighting and 10 for misconduct.
Everett took advantage of the ensuing power play as Millar forced his way into a scrum just outside the crease and slipped the puck past Brody Willms at 10:06 in the first period for a 1-0 lead as the Tips.
Laurencelle extended his point streak at 2:15 in the second period as Stadnyk found Laurencelle at the right circle and Laurencelle redirected the shot in for a 2-0 lead.
Millar’s second goal came off an impressive feed from Noah Juulsen, who took the puck into the high slot, then fired a pass to Millar at the left side of the crease. Millar put it past Willms for a 3-0 advantage at 8:22 in the second.
“I’ve thought this year that he’s played the game a lot harder than he did last year,” Constantine said of Millar. “Now he’s gotten a little reward tonight for playing the game harder ,so that’s a nice little reward for his hard work.”
Tristen Pfeifer scored his first goal of the year from the right circle at 15:23 in the third, and Laurencelle’s second of the game came at 16:20 to complete the scoring.
Everett goaltender Carter Hart recorded 14 saves for his 10th career shutout, his sixth shutout of the season and his fourth in his last six games. Hart wasn’t challenged often, but he made the saves when he was.
“I thought the forwards fore checked well, the back checked well, the ‘D,’ we worked together,” Skrumeda said. “Carter Hart was back there whenever we needed him.”
The Silvertips play at Spokane Sunday at 5 p.m.
The Game
Things are clicking for the Tips right now. They’ve outscored their last two opponents 10-0 in two Thanksgiving week shutout victories, though Moose Jaw was playing without Point tonight.
Everett dominated the puck possession for the most part tonight. There was a slight lull to open the third period, similar to Wednesday’s game during which the Tips built a big lead before allowing Tri-City to double up on the number of shots.
But Everett regrouped Friday and even managed to kill a final penalty in the final two minutes thanks to timely blocks from Kevin Davis and Cole MacDonald.
Leedahl’s potential injury could be big, however. He was out with a knee injury for nearly two months last season, and has battled ailments throughout this season as well, despite appearing in 20 of Everett’s 23 games thus far.
General manager Garry Davidson didn’t have any update on Leedahl’s condition by the time I left the arena, but we’ll try to see if we can get some details during the weekend. The Tips leave Saturday afternoon for Spokane, where they will take on the Chiefs Sunday evening.
The Turning Point
I’m going to go ahead and say it was the Ralph-McNulty fight in the first period. Millar scored the first goal and the Tips never trailed.
Three Stars
1. Everett F Graham Millar: Millar scored twice and added an assist.
2. Everett F Patrick Bajkov: The birthday boy had two assists
3. Everett F Remi Laurencelle: The 20-year-old continued his torrid pace as he scored twice to become the first Tip with double digit goals and extend his point streak to eight games
