Silvertips lose second straight in OT, fall 3-2 to Winterhawks

Published 10:35 pm Saturday, October 4, 2014

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips and the rest of the Western Hockey League were having a field day at the expense of the Portland Winterhawks.

Portland, the four-time defending Western Conference champion, was in uncharted territory, dropping its first six games to start the season. Everett, which ate its share of Portland’s dust the past four years, was the author of two of those defeats. Questions were beginning to mount about whether the Winterhawks’ reign was over.

But Portland’s losing streak wasn’t going to last forever, and the Tips ended up being the victims.

Alex Schoenborn scored in overtime as Portland won its first game of the season, knocking off Everett 3-2 Saturday night at Xfinity Arena. The loss was Everett second overtime home defeat in two nights.

“That builds confidence,” said first-year Portland coach Jamie Kompon, who also picked up his first win behind a WHL bench. “The attitude has been great, everyone’s been upbeat, they knew it was just a matter of time before it came. I’m just glad it came sooner rather than later.”

Chase De Leo and Tyson Predinchuk also scored for Portland (1-5-0-1), while Brendan Burke earned the win in goal with 26 saves.

Nikita Scherbak and Remi Laurencelle scored for Everett (3-0-2-0), which fell to undefeated Kelowna 5-4 in overtime the previous night. For Scherbak it was his third goal in two games since joining the Tips earlier this week. Carter Hart finished with 28 saves in net for Everett.

“We were better tonight than last night,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “We got a point last night against Kelowna, which is good in that they’re a good team. But we just gave up more than we feel we should in terms of shots and scoring chances. Tonight I thought we competed harder.

“I think Portland is playing a little better with (Oliver) Bjorkstrand and other guys back. They’re probably starting to get used to the new coach, and they’re competing very hard right now because of pride and where they’re at in the standings,” Constantine added. “Portland played well tonight.”

Portland’s slow start was due in part to missing players as star forwards Bjorkstrand and Nicolas Petan were at NHL training camps, while key defensemen Blake Heinrich and Josh Hanson were injured.

But those players have started filtering back. Hanson was in the lineup for the first time this season on Saturday and Bjorkstrand played against Everett for the first time. The Winterhawks nearly stopped their skid Friday before falling in a shootout at home against Seattle. But Portland managed to get over the top Saturday.

“We played a real solid team game, especially coming off a game we played last night at home against Seattle,” Kompon said. “We brought the same kind of intensity and effort and we finally got rewarded.”

The game-winning goal came in large part because of an offseason rule change. This season teams change ends for overtime, meaning they have the longer distance to get back to their benches to make line changes. As a result, Everett’s players were stuck in a long shift as Portland harried the Tips defense into turnovers.

Those turnovers led to several scoring chances in close. Hart denied the first three, but Schoenborn was eventually able to bank the puck off Hart and into the net to send the Winterhawks into a celebration that was far more spirited than the typical regular season postgame handshakes.

“That is an example of why they changed the rule,” Constantine said. “They changed the rule to try and create more offense, and more offense got created in that situation because our D got tired. Tired bodies and minds make mistakes, and we made some mistakes that were just due purely to fatigue because we couldn’t get a change during the shift. Hockey wanted more offense in the four-on-four and tonight they got it. Unfortunately, it was for them and not us.”

Portland broke the ice 11 minutes, 49 seconds into the game. De Leo planted himself in front of goal, and when Layne Viveiros slid the puck goalward, De Leo made a fantastic back-to-goal deflection to put the pick into the top corner, giving the Winterhawks a 1-0 lead.

Everett tied it on the power play 3:10 into the second period. Scherbak received the puck in the right circle, made a quick move toward goal and fired a shot past Burke to knot it at 1-1 with his third goal in two games since joining the Tips.

The Winterhawks took over the period after that. Predinchuk restored Portland’s lead at 6:21, sniping a shot past Hart after the Tips were long shifted, and the Winterhawks could have run away with it, but Hart stopped two breakaways and Portland twice drew iron.

Then the Tips tied it against the run of play at 16:42. Logan Aasman’s shot was saved up into the air, and Laurencelle took a baseball swing and batted the puck in, tying it at 2-2.

There were few scoring chances in the the third period, though one moment late in the period saw the puck get behind Hart but stay out, and the game went to overtime for the second straight night.

Slap shots

Before the game the Tips reassigned winger Addison Runey. The 17-year-old from Frisco, Texas, found himself squeezed for playing time following the arrival of Nikita Scherbak. Runey will join the Amarillo Bulls of the North American Hockey League. The move leaves Everett with 24 players on the roster — 14 forwards, eight defensmen and two goaltenders. … Petan remains at camp with the NHL’s Winnipeg Jets. The Winterhawks were also without key defenseman Blake Heinrich because of an upper-body injury.

Winterhawks 3, Silvertips 2 (OT)

Portland 1 1 0 1 — 3

Everett 0 2 0 0 — 2

First Period—1, Portland, De Leo 4 (Viveiros, Bjorkstrand), 11:49. Penalties—none.

Second Period—2, Everett, Scherbak 3 (Leedahl, Davis), 3:10 (pp). 3, Portland, Predinchuk 2 (Viveiros, Smith), 6:21. 4, Everett, Laurencelle 2 (Aasman), 16:42. Penalties—Smith, Portland (interference), 2:57; Laurencelle, Everett (holding), 10:28.

Third Period—no goals. Penalties—none.

Overtime—5, Portland, Schoenborn 1 (Koules), 2:40. Penalties—none.

Shots on goal—Portland 12-8-8-3—31. Everett 11-10-7-0—28. Power-play opportunities—Portland 0 of 1. Everett 1 of 1.

Goalies—Portland, Burke 1-2-0-1 (28 shots, 26 saves). Everett, Hart 1-0-1-0 (31 shots, 28 saves).

A—4,715.

Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.