Everett 4, Seattle 3
Published 11:22 pm Friday, September 24, 2010
TALKING POINTS
Well, that was one heck of a season opener. It may not have been the cleanest game ever played, but that’s to be expected in an opener, and the entertainment value was top notch.
The critical juncture came late in the third period. Everett, which fell behind 2-0 in the first, came back to tie it 3-3 and had gained control of play. But with 6:32 remaining Seattle’s Charles Wells went hard into the boards under pressure from Everett’s Alex Theriau. From my vantage point it looked like Wells lost an edge, but Theriau was given a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct. Seattle had scored twice during earlier power plays and seemed poised for the win, but the Tips came up with a heroic penalty-killing effort during the major, killing the entire thing off, and Everett won it with 38 seconds remaining when aggressive forechecking resulted in a Tyler Maxwell goal.
Everett didn’t connect very well on passes, and the Tips tried to be too cute at times. But Everett carried over its effectiveness on the power play from the preseason, going 2-for-3.
As for Seattle, the T-birds looked significantly better overall than they did last season. The question for them is can someone become an offensive gamebreaker to replace Prab Rai.
One last unrelated thing. I stumbled across this earlier today as it wasn’t clearly marked on our website, but check out the map graphic put together by Judy Stanley. It’s interactive and allows you to get quick previews of each WHL team. I think it’s pretty slick, and hopefully with the new website we’ll able to provide more of this type of enhanced internet content in the future.
TURNING POINT
The obvious answer is that penalty kill, but I’m going to point out a moment late in the first period. Seattle had just taken a 2-0 lead and the Tips weren’t playing very well. That’s when Ryan Murray decided to take things into his own hands. Right after Seattle scored its second goal, the Tips defenseman jumped up into the play on the rush, made a hit behind the net to free up the puck, then wrapped a pass around the net for Campbell Elynuik to put in at the far post. Murray’s initiative is what got Everett started tonight.
HIT OF THE DAY
Early in the first period Seattle’s Brenden Dillon put a big-time open-ice licking on Clayton Cumiskey, a hit Cumiskey saw coming but couldn’t avoid.
THREE STARS
First star: Murray. Three assists, it was a master-class performance from the blue line.
Second star: Maxwell. Two goals, including the game winner.
Third star: Luke Lockhart, Seattle. One goal, one assist and much improvement from last season.
The Herald’s honorable mention: Kent Simpson, Everett. 20 saves, and the biggest ones came during that big penalty kill.
BOX SCORE
