Silvertips fall 3-1 for 3rd straight loss to rival Thunderbirds

Published 10:30 pm Tuesday, January 17, 2017

KENT — Playing four hockey games in five nights is challenging, even for teenage players who likely will never have more energy than they do right now.

That showed among the Everett Silvertips Tuesday as they fell 3-1 to the rival Seattle Thunderbirds before 5,019 fans at ShoWare Center.

“No one likes playing four in five, but they’re part of this season,” Everett forward Matt Fonteyne said. “If you want to go far, even in the playoffs, they’re going to happen. You kind of just have to figure out a way to battle your way through, whether that’s taking shorter shifts or keeping every play simple. You just have to find a way to get it done when it happens.”

The Thunderbirds never trailed as they dominated the opening period and took a 1-0 lead while firing a dozen shots at Everett goalie Carter Hart before the Silvertips recorded their first shot on net.

“They came out and they were much better than us in the first 10 minutes,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “They start good in this building and we were not great. A little bit of that is playing (Monday) and playing four in five nights and it’s the way it goes.”

The U.S. Division-leading Tips (28-6-7-1, 64 points) have now lost three straight to surging Seattle (24-14-3-1, 52 points). However, Seattle’s previous two victories came via shootout and overtime, allowing the Silvertips to pick up one standings point in each instance.

That wasn’t the case Tuesday as Seattle rode its top line of Mathew Barzal, Ryan Gropp and Keegan Kolesar to its sixth straight victory overall.

Barzal scored Seattle’s first goal with a brilliant back-hand shot from the goal line that somehow got past Hart. Barzal then set up Kolesar for the game-winner with a between-the-legs pass that Kolesar converted in front of the net.

Gropp earned assists on both goals as all three top-line forwards finished with a pair of points.

“Gropp is skilled, Barzal is exceptional — he’s one of the few players in our league that played in the NHL and Kolesar works his butt off,” Constantine said. “He’s a big, big man who shoots it hard and I think it’s a very nice line. One of the better lines in the league.”

It remained 2-1 until just 31 seconds remained. Kolesar came out of the penalty box and stole the puck from surprised Everett defenseman Noah Juulsen who was resetting the power play. Kolesar found Alexander True and True essentially finished it off with an empty-netter from center ice.

Hart finished with 30 saves on 32 shots faced.

He stopped the first 10 shots the Thunderbirds fired his way. The 11th came when Barzal wove through traffic and beat Hart with a highlight-reel goal for a 1-0 Seattle lead at 12:42 in the opening period.

“I thought Carter played great,” Constantine said. “He held us in there in the first. It could have been worse and yet at the end of one it was 1-1. We were in there and our goalie did a good job to give us a chance.”

The Tips didn’t even muster a shot until 5:38 remained in the frame. But they drew even with their second shot when Fonteyne converted at the back door on the power play to make it 1-1 at 15:59 in the first.

Other than that Seattle goalie Rylan Toth was perfect as he finished with 23 saves.

“He’s playing good against everybody right now,” Constantine said. “He’s coming into his own and they’ve won a lot of games lately and he’s a big part of that.”

Everett is now 4-2-2-1 since returning from the holiday break. The Tips were able to build their big division lead in part by battling through injuries and travel difficulties. Now the challenge is getting adequate rest while playing so many games.

“I think every team goes through some adversity during the year, whether it’s injuries or losses, just different teams have it at different stretches,” Fonteyne said. “I think the key is to battle your way out of the stretches and make it as short as possible.”

The teams reprise their rivalry Friday when Seattle travels to Xfinity Arena for a 7:35 p.m. matchup.

Thunderbirds 3, Silvertips 1

Everett 1 0 0 — 1

Seattle 1 1 1 — 3

1st Period—1, Seattle, Barzal 4 (Gropp, Hyman), 12:42. 2, Everett, Fonteyne 14 (Zwerger, Davis), 15:59 (PP). Penalties—True Sea (holding), 7:10; Tuulola Evt (tripping), 8:17; Ottenbreit Sea (interference), 15:43; Ottenbreit Sea (roughing), 18:40.

2nd Period—3, Seattle, Kolesar 8 (Barzal, Gropp), 12:28. Penalties—Dewar Evt (slashing), 4:24.

3rd Period—4, Seattle, True 13 (Kolesar), 19:29 (EN). Penalties—Kolesar Sea (holding), 17:23.

Shots on Goal—Everett 4—10—10—24. Seattle 12—13—8—33.

Power Play Opportunities—Everett 1 / 4; Seattle 0 / 2.

Goalies—Everett, Hart 18—4—5—0 (32 shots—30 saves). Seattle, Toth 20—14—1—0 (24 shots—23 saves).

A—5,019

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