Prince George 3, Everett 2 (SO)
Published 11:07 pm Friday, December 11, 2009
TALKING POINTS
Well, I guess the question is whether the Tips have hit rock bottom.
Everett just lost its fifth straight, falling to the worst team in the league, and the Tips probably deserved it as they certainly weren’t any better than a gritty Prince George team tonight. Everett had it won in regulation, but allowed a goal with 13.8 seconds remaining. The Tips received a power play in overtime, but not only did Everett not score on the four-on-three, the Tips didn’t create any real scoring chances, despite keeping the puck in the offensive zone the entire two minutes. Then in the shootout Everett’s final two shooters had the puck poked away before they even got a shot off.
The overtime power play was a perfect microcosm of Everett’s problems. Prince George came into the game with a penalty-killing unit ranked dead last in the WHL, killing off just 67.7 percent of opposing advantages. Everett had seven opportunities on the power play tonight, but never had a sniff of a goal. The Tips had plenty of possession in Prince George’s zone during those power plays, but it was limited almost exclusively to passing on the perimeter, and there was no movement off the puck. Very static and very ineffective.
The Tips also took some bad penalties in the first period, lost the majority of the faceoffs, really there wasn’t much positive to take away from this game from an Everett standpoint.
TURNING POINT
If the Tips score on any power play they get two points tonight.
HIT OF THE DAY
Another dramatic hip check by Everett’s Radko Gudas, when he upended Taylor Makin into the boards midway through the first period. And another fight instigated against Gudas afterwards as Jesse Forsberg jumped in.
THREE STARS
First star: Hudson Stremmel, Prince George. 28 saves in regulation and three stops in the shootout.
Second star: Thomas Heemskerk, Everett. 21 saves, it looked like his double save in the final minute had preserved Everett’s victory.
Third star: Dallas Jackson, Prince George. A goal, assist and the shootout winner. His late-game heroics probably warranted the first star.
The Herald’s honorable mention: Marek Viedensky, Prince George. One goal and won a ton of faceoffs.
BOX SCORE
