Silvertips fall to Winterhawks 4-3 in OT for 5th straight loss

Published 9:45 pm Tuesday, January 31, 2017

PORTLAND — The Everett Silvertips are still looking for their first victory in more than a week.

Joachim Blichfeld scored at the 3:58 mark in overtime as the Portland Winterhawks topped the Tips 4-3 in a back-and-forth affair Tuesday before 3,406 fans at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Tuesday’s game was a make-up contest that was originally scheduled to be played Jan. 7, but was postponed due to inclement weather.

The silver lining for the Tips (30-9-8-2, 70 points) is that they snapped a three-game pointless streak in terms of the standings. But Everett remains winless in its last five contests.

Portland (26-21-1-2, 55 points) topped Everett for the second time in five days including a 4-1 win at Xfinity Arena last Friday.

Everett goaltender Carter Hart finished with 42 saves on 46 shots. Blichfeld’s game-winner was his 17th goal of the season.

Knotted at 2-2 through two periods, Alex Overhardt scored just 42 seconds into the third period to give Portland its second lead of the contest.

But Everett tied the game yet again as Brian King buried a rebound from the right circle at 9:24 for his second goal of the season. That’s how it stayed until overtime.

It didn’t take long for Portland to strike first. Evan Weinger took advantage of his speed and a Silvertips line change to beat Hart and put the Winterhawks up 1-0 at 5:24 in the first.

Aaron Irving tied the game at 1-1 with a slap shot from inside the blue line after Connor Dewar won a puck battle in the corner at 3:17. It was Irving’s first goal as a Silvertip after putting up 14 with the Edmonton Oil Kings this season.

Then Devon Skoleski gave the Tips their first lead when he finished a 2-on-1 at 3:46.

The Winterhawks drew even at 6:02 on the power play when Blichfeld won the faceoff and directed the puck to Caleb Jones, who found Colton Veloso for the game-tying goal.

Portland goalie Cole Kehler, who was superb in Friday’s win, saved 31 of Everett’s 34 shots on Tuesday.

Dewar finished with two assists, while Jake Christiansen and Orrin Centazzo each had one helper for Everett.

Blichfeld had a goal and an assist, while Jones finished with two assists to lead Portland.

The Tips return to action Wednesday when they take on the Tri-City Americans at 7:05 p.m. at the Toyota Center.

Winterhawks 4, Silvertips 3 (OT)

Everett 0 2 1 0 — 3

Portland 1 1 1 1 — 4

1st Period—1, Portland, Weinger 15 (Glass), 5:24. Penalties—Jokiharju Por (cross checking), 0:15; Fonteyne Evt (checking from behind), 7:06; Sharp Por (charging), 18:06.

2nd Period—2, Everett, Irving 15 (Dewar), 3:17. 3, Everett, Skoleski 9 (Dewar), 3:45. 4, Portland, Veloso 13 (Jones, Blichfeld), 6:02 (PP). Penalties—Dewar Evt (kneeing), 5:55.

3rd Period—5, Portland, Overhardt 10 (Hughes, Jones), 0:42. 6, Everett, King 2 (Christiansen, Centazzo), 9:24. Penalties—Glass Por (hooking), 4:24; Richards Evt (hooking), 13:44.

OT Period—7, Portland, Blichfeld 17 (Jokiharju), 3:58. Penalties—No Penalties

Shots on Goal—Everett 12-12-9-1-34. Portland 18-10-15-3-46.

Power Play Opportunities—Everett 0 / 3; Portland 1 / 3.

Goalies—Everett, Hart 19-6-6-1 (46 shots-42 saves). Portland, Kehler 19-14-0-2 (34 shots-31 saves).

A—3,406