Silvertips bounce back from Saturday’s loss and top Chiefs 5-3

Published 1:30 am Sunday, December 11, 2016

EVERETT — Dominic Zwerger spent his first three seasons in the WHL with the Spokane Chiefs before a trade brought the overage Austrian to Everett at the start of the 2016-17 season.

Since then, Zwerger has haunted his former teammates. On Sunday, he scored two goals and added an assist as the Tips topped the visiting Chiefs 5-3 before 3,502 fans at Xfinity Arena.

Zwerger has 13 goals and 22 assists in 29 games since becoming a fixture on Everett’s top line. That includes two goals and four assists in four games against Spokane (13-12-5-1, 32 points).

“They’re a great team as well,” Zwerger said of Spokane. “They’ve got lots of skill and some great players there. They have some (NHL) first-rounders up here. They’re a helluva team. It was a good matchup tonight and it was fun out there.”

The U.S. Division and Western Conference-leading Silvertips (22-4-5-0, 49 points) responded from an ugly 5-2 loss at Portland on Saturday with a gutsy effort on a quick turnaround.

Everett never trailed in the contest, but it wasn’t until Connor Dewar’s empty-netter at 18:57 of the third period that the Tips could allow themselves to exhale after playing games in three straight nights, and four contests in five nights.

“I thought it was outstanding,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “That’s really really hard to do and Spokane plays so hard themselves, so it wasn’t going to be easy. They didn’t make it easy. It was a battle. I’m proud of our guys.”

Patrick Bajkov collected two more assists and now has a team-leading 26 on the campaign, and linemate Matt Fonteyne added two helpers. Kevin Davis moved into the points lead among Tips defensemen with two more assists on Sunday and now has 22 points on the season.

Everett overager Graham Millar scored in his fourth game back since missing a dozen contests with an upper body injury. It was his first goal since Oct. 12 and his seventh on the season.

“It’s hard to watch (while injured),” Millar said. “You see guys battling and you want to be out there. I took my time and got better so I’m really happy to be back.”

Everett led 3-2 after two periods. The Tips pushed their advantage to 4-2 at 3:44 in the third when Riley Sutter potted a rebound of Zwerger’s shot on the power play as the Tips were 2-for-4 on the man advantage.

“Our power play has been good,” Constantine said, “but there have been times in each of the last two games where maybe our power play could have been a big contribution and got us an insurance goal and so it’s nice when special teams can make a difference.”

The Chiefs answered four minutes later when Keanu Yamamoto stuck the puck past Mario Petit’s left pad on the rush to cut the lead to 4-3 before Dewar’s empty-netter from center ice put the game out of reach.

Everett finished the week with a 2-2 mark that included a shootout win Friday at Vancouver.

“It’s really hard to stay on task,” Millar said. “I think we did a pretty good job bouncing back today and everybody worked really hard.”

The high-scoring second period featured four goals.

Zwerger found the net for the second time on the power play with a shot from the left circle at 1:27 to push Everett’s lead to 2-0.

Jaret Anderson-Dolan got one back for the Chiefs at 4:25 when Taylor Ross found him at the left post for the tap-in goal.

Millar’s goal came when his shot from the slot trickled over the line at 9:43. That was it for Spokane goalie Jayden Sittler, who was lifted for Dawson Weatherill.

The Chiefs responded on the next shift when Anderson-Dolan once again stationed himself at the left post and poked a behind-the-net feed from Kailer Yamamoto past Petit to cut Everett’s lead to 3-2.

The Chiefs had an excellent chance to tie four minutes later when Petit found himself sprawled on the ice with the puck headed for the goal line. But in skated Fonteyne to knock the puck out of the crease and prevent the tying goal.

Zwerger first found the net against his former team at 3:14 in the first with a tough-angle shot that got through Sittler’s legs.

Less than a minute later, Montana Onyebuchi took Everett’s first penalty and Petit made several impressive saves, including a kick save during a sequence near the end of the Spokane power play.

Petit finished with 24 saves on 27 shots as he won his fifth game in seven appearances this season.

“Last night in Portland wasn’t his best game, but if you look at the numbers over the course of (seven games), his numbers are OK,” Constantine said. “He did a nice job tonight.”

The Silvertips return to action Friday when they play host to Tri-City at 7:35 p.m.

For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.

Silvertips 5, Chiefs 3

Spokane 0 2 1—3

Everett 1 2 2—5

First Period—1, Everett, Zwerger 12 (Fonteyne, Bajkov), 3:14. Penalties-Onyebuchi Evt (checking from behind), 3:43; Ostir Spo (holding), 6:25; McIndoe Spo (holding), 17:06.

Second Period—2, Everett, Zwerger 13 (Davis), 1:27 (PP). 3, Spokane, Anderson-Dolan 15 (Ross), 4:25. 4, Everett, Millar 7 (Fonteyne, Bajkov), 9:43. 5, Spokane, Anderson-Dolan 16 (Yamamoto), 10:25. Penalties-Yamamoto Spo (holding), 0:38; Richards Evt (slashing), 5:52.

Third Period—6, Everett, Sutter 10 (Zwerger, Davis), 3:44 (PP). 7, Spokane, Yamamoto 13 (Elynuik), 7:47. 8, Everett, Dewar 3 18:57 (EN). Penalties-Helgesen Spo (holding), 3:21.

Shots on Goal—Spokane 10-9-8-27. Everett 9-9-9-27.

Power Play Opportunities—Spokane 0/2; Everett 2/4.

Goalies—Spokane, Sittler 8-6-2-0 (14 shots-11 saves); Weatherill 5-6-3-1 (12 shots-11 saves). Everett, Petit 5-1-1-0 (27 shots-24 saves).

A—3,502