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Silvertips’ Bajkov answers coach’s challenge

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 24, 2018

By Jesse Geleynse

Silvertips’ Bajkov answers coach’s challenge
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Silvertips’ Bajkov answers coach’s challenge
The Silvertips’ Patrick Bajkov (right) and Prince Albert’s Sergei Sapego battle for control of the puck during a game on Nov. 15, 2017, in Everett. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

KENNEWICK — Sometimes your best players have to be your best players.

Everett Silvertips head coach Dennis Williams has made that point in different iterations throughout the season. And it rings all the more true when you reach the third round of the WHL playoffs.

On Monday, prior to Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, Williams held a sit-down with his leading scorer, Patrick Bajkov.

“I challenged him,” Williams said. “He wasn’t good for the first two games, I told him. Our expectations are higher. He and I met for awhile (Monday) on video and he came out and played the way he should play.”

Bajkov went without a point in Everett’s 3-2 series-opening victory. He tallied a power-play goal in a 5-3 loss in Game 2, but finished minus-2 and took a game misconduct in the final seconds.

“It’s been pretty evident I haven’t been playing up to my potential or the way I have to be playing to win a series against as skilled a group as these guys,” Bajkov said. “So I was challenged tonight to push myself, and I was able to do that, which I need to be able to carry that throughout the series.”

It wasn’t just that Bajkov turned in his second hat trick of the postseason in Everett’s 8-4 Game 3 victory Monday — it was how he accomplished the feat.

His first goal came in the opening period when he anticipated a drop pass and outraced Tri-City’s Jake Bean, a first-round NHL pick, to the puck to create a breakaway and scored on Patrick Dea. The second came when he picked the pocket of Juuso Valimaki, another NHL first-rounder for breakaway that he stashed past Dea to give Everett the lead for good.

The third? Just a gorgeous snipe from the right circle.

But while Williams was pleased with the three goals, he was as equally impressed with Bajkov’s performance away from the puck.

“It wasn’t just that he scored, he was tracking pucks and he was finishing checks and that’s what we need from our best players,” Williams said. “This time of year that’s what you need from every player open every shift. That’s the consistency you need and his response was great.”

Bajkov was far from Everett’s only star Monday. In fact, on Monday Everett’s third line produced in a fashion that mimicked the performance of Tri-City’s third line on Saturday.

Rookie center Reece Vitelli had a goal and an assist and rookie winger Martin Fasko-Rudas had a goal to help jumpstart the Tips.

In Game 2 Tri-City’s third line combined for three goals and an assist.

Vitelli’s goal came mid-line change in the second period when Sean Richards stole the puck and fed Vitelli for a shot that gave Everett a 3-2 lead.

Later in the period third-pair defenseman Ian Walker tallied his first career playoff goal with a wrister through traffic.

Fasko-Rudas opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game when he carried the puck up the right wing and beat Dea with a wrister from the right circle.

“(Monday) it was our depth players that did a good job,” Williams said.

When you combine depth scoring with a standout performance from a star player, the result is an 8-4 win and a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 is Thursday at Toyota Center.

For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.

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