REFLECTIONS: Depleted Silvertips earn 30th win of the season
Published 1:30 am Saturday, January 21, 2017
The Game
The Everett Silvertips earned another gritty victory, and gained a bit of confidence Saturday as they went into the Toyota Center and knocked off the Tri-City Americans with a backup goalie while missing their top defenseman and second leading-scorer.
Mario Petit was solid in net and Kevin Davis scored twice as the Tips beat the Americans 4-2 for their second consecutive win.
The Tips led 1-0 late in the second, but the Americans tied it up with just 12 seconds to go in the frame.
“It (can) sometimes deflate your locker room and deflate your group. But I thought our veteran guys like Davis and (Patrick) Bajkov did a good job of rallying our troops and making sure that wasn’t going to be the factor in the hockey game, that momentum wasn’t back on Tri-City’s side,” Tips assistant Mitch Love said in a post-game radio interview on 1380 KRKO. “And then our power play, like most games this year, when we don’t have much going 5-on-5 it seems to find a way for us to steal some hockey games here and there and it did it again tonight here in Tri-City, in a building we’ve really had a tough time trying to win hockey games in the last five years.”
Everett finished 2-for-3 on the power play while its league-best penalty-killing unit kept the Americans scoreless in two man advantages.
Everett also saw the WHL debut of Ethan Browne, who nearly scored on his first shift. While Browne didn’t register a point, he did finish plus-one on the night.
The Tips weren’t necessarily expecting him to play during his weekend visit, but he was pressed into service anyway.
“It was more or less just to get him acclimated with the program and how we do things on a daily basis, especially during the regular season,” Love said. “But as many things go this time of year with different teams they run into injury problems and Ethan was sprung into duty tonight and I thought he did a pretty good job for a young 15-year-old against a good Tri-City hockey club, on the road, which isn’t an easy thing with no fans behind your back.”
The Turning Point
The Tips killed off a four-minute penalty on Aaron Irving midway through the second period to preserve what was then a 1-0 lead.
Three Stars
1. Tri-City F Vladislav Lukin: Lukin had a goal and an assist to finish plus-two.
2. Everett D Kevin Davis: The Tips veteran had two goals and was plus-one.
3. Tri-City D Dalton Yorke: Yorke was plus-one and fought Everett’s Montana Onyebuchi.
