Late goals lift Silvertips to 3-1 victory over Americans

Published 10:30 pm Wednesday, October 5, 2016

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips have had their struggles with the Tri-City Americans dating back to last season.

But what really concerns the Everett coaching staff is when the Tips get out-worked by their opponent — something they felt happened in Sunday’s overtime loss at Tri-City.

The Tips ensured that wouldn’t happen again as they avenged Sunday’s defeat with a 3-1 win before 2,733 fans Wednesday at Xfinity Arena.

“The goal of the night was to start a little better and play a little harder,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “At this point of the year I was happy that happened. We played harder. So I was willing to live with any result on the scoreboard if we made a positive step in our work ethic and I thought we really did.”

The Tips maintained their lead atop the U.S. Division and are off to their first 4-0-1-0 start since 2006-07. Tri-City slipped to 2-3 in the second of three straight contests against Everett.

“It was definitely a big point of emphasis to bounce back in this game and work hard for a full 60 (minutes) and I think we did a good job of that,” said Everett overage forward Graham Millar. “Our battle level needed to go up and I thought we did a good job of that today.”

Millar scored the game-winning goal at 14:40 in the third period and now has five goals in five games. The victorious tally wouldn’t have been possible without some hard work from Devon Skoleski along the boards.

With the game still knotted at 1-1, Skoleski dug the puck out of a scrum and found Connor Dewar in the slot. Dewar’s shot was off the mark, but Millar walked in and put it past Tri-City goaltender Beck Warm for the 2-1 lead.

“It’s called escapability,” Constantine said, describing Skoleski’s play. “How do you get into a corner where there are bodies and then find time and space to make a play? He did a great job to kind of move and make some moves and give himself some space and then the other two guys made nice plays too.”

Noah Juulsen added an empty-netter for insurance with 28 seconds to play.

“(Tri-City is) a hard-working team,” said Juulsen, who was named the 13th captain in team history earlier in the day. “They have a couple good lines for sure. We just gotta watch them and shut them down.”

Recently acquired overage forward Dominic Zwerger scored his first goal with the Tips when he tapped in a rebound during a 5-on-3 power play at 1:31 in the second period to tie the game at 1-1. The Austrian, who came over from Spokane last week in a trade, now has two points in three games.

“I had a couple chances the past two games and couldn’t put it in, but today I was lucky enough to get a bounce and it went in and it felt great,” Zwerger said.

Maxwell James gave Tri-City a 1-0 lead at 14:41 on a breakaway when he deked Everett goaltender Carter Hart and went top shelf with his backhand.

Everett’s Brett Kemp had a chance to claim the early lead when he took advantage of a turnover at the blueline for a one-on-one opportunity, but Warm stoned his shot attempt to keep the game scoreless.

“I thought we had some good chances in the first and I thought our power play had some good chances,” Constantine said. “Not that much came of it on the scoreboard, but we hung in there and kept working and playing. We kind of survived the first five minutes of the third when they came at us pretty good.”

Everett finished with a 33-16 shot advantage. Hart (2-1-0-0) wasn’t tested often, but saved 15 of the 16 shots he faced. Warm finished with 30 saves.

The teams face off again at 7:35 p.m. Friday at Xfinity Arena.

Silvertips 3, Tri-City 1

Tri-City 1 0 0—1

Everett 0 1 2—3

First Period—1, TC, James 1 (Valimaki, Lukin), 14:41. Penalties—Kindopp, Everett (too many men), 10:03.

Second Period—2, Everett, Zwerger 1 (Davis, Juulsen), 1:31 (pp). Penalties-Rasmussen, TC (cross checking), :43. Yorke, TC (charging), 1:22. Krebs, TC (tripping), 6:21. Millar, Everett (holding), 8:09. Wotherspoon, TC (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:42. Zwerger, Everett (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:42. Valimaki, TC (cross checking), 16:28.

Third Period—3, Millar, Everett, (Dewar, Skoleski), 14:40. 4, Julusen, Everett (Fonteyne), 19:32 (en).

Shots on goal—TC 7-4-5—16. Everett 10-18-5—33. Power-play opportunities—TC 0 of 2. Everett 1 of 4.

Goalies—TC, Warm 2-2-0-0 (33 shots, 30 saves). Everett, Hart 2-0-1-0 (16 shots, 15 saves).

A—2,733