EVERETT — For a moment, it looked like the Everett Silvertips were heading to the Western Conference Finals.
It was far from a foregone conclusion, since there was 16:57 left in regulation when forward Lukas Kaplan scored from the high slot to give Everett a 2-1 lead over the Portland Winterhawks at Angel of the Winds Arena on Tuesday, but after Kaplan scored the series-clinching goal against Seattle in the first round on April 7, it would have been a fitting way to win Game 7 of the conference semifinals. All the Silvertips had to do was hold off the Winterhawks for 17 minutes.
Easier said than done.
These same Winterhawks turned a 2-0 series deficit into a 3-2 lead before Everett forced Game 7 with an 8-4 win in Game 6 on Friday, and they would not go away. So as shocking as Portland forward Hudson Darby’s goal from behind the goal line looked — he somehow flipped the puck into the cage from the right corner boards — it was not surprising to see the Winterhawks tie it 2-2 at 7:37 of the third period.
Then in a moment, everything changed.
Thirty seconds after Darby tied it, he once again had the puck on his stick and carved his way between Silvertips defensemen Brek Liske and forward Tyler MacKenzie en route to goalie Raiden LeGall. LeGall made the stop, and Darby crashed into the left corner, but with the puck left in the crease and LeGall in front of the left post, Winterhawks forward Kyle McDonough punched the puck in to put Portland ahead 3-2 at 8:07.
“I don’t know (what went wrong),” Silvertips defenseman Tarin Smith said. “Obviously things are going up and down a lot, and then you got a lot of young guys in that room, but I don’t know. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes, like there’s only so much we can do. I think every guy in that room worked their bag off all series and all night.”
AND JUST LIKE THAT, THE @PDXWinterhawks HAVE TAKEN THE LEAD 🚨#WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingTheFuture
🔗https://t.co/3EeoTLQe1N pic.twitter.com/XoC03hntgZ
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) April 23, 2025
One minute, the Silvertips were leading Game 7 in the third period. The next, they were trailing. Just like that.
Try as they would for an equalizer with less than 12 minutes remaining, the Winterhawks held on and scored an empty-net goal with 15 seconds remaining to secure a 4-2 win and advance to the Western Conference Finals.
Final: Portland wins 4-2 and advances to the Western Conference Finals
Buttazzoni scores ENG with 15 s left
The Winterhawks ends Everett’s season for the third year in a row.
After leading the series 2-0, and Game 7 2-1 in the third period, the road ends here for the Tips
— Joe Pohoryles (@Joe_Poho) April 23, 2025
For an Everett team that won the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the regular season champion, it was the end of the line. It marked the third year in a row that Portland ended the Silvertips’ season, and the franchise continues to search for its first WHL championship.
“Really, it was a stretch of about one minute (that made the difference),” Silvertips coach Steve Hamilton said. “Mistakes happen. They happen quickly and in succession, and it happens. It’s hockey, it’s fast-paced as things go on that are outside of your control, and we played hard. We had lots of chances and we did a lot of good things. Just very disappointed and saddened for the group.”
After going down 3-2, Everett quickly had to shift its mindset from defending a lead to chasing. They generated chances, but Winterhawks goalie Ondrej Stebetak (40 saves) could not be cracked.
“It’s hard,” forward Austin Roest said. “You can see even when we had the push going, it was hard for them to play with a lead. It’s really hard to play with a lead, especially when their season is on the line. So we had a couple of unlucky bounces, and next thing you know it’s 3-2. And like I said, just really proud that we fought all the way to the end and didn’t give up.”
Portland Winterhawks’ Kyle McDonough celebrates scoring during game seven of the second round of the WHL playoffs on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
As the clock ticked down towards the final two minutes, the Silvertips maintained puck possession in Portland’s zone, and it started to look like fans at Angel of the Winds Arena were watching a table tennis match: They moved their heads back and forth between the action and Everett’s net, where LeGall stood in front of the crease. Some fans started waving LeGall to come to the bench to give the Silvertips an extra attacker, but Hamilton waited. With 90 seconds to go, he made the call, but before LeGall was even halfway to the bench, Portland had regained control.
The aborted switch was not timed right, and the Silvertips were penalized for having too many men on the ice, effectively sealing the game. Hamilton said he has “my time” where he wants to pull a goalie in that situation — with 1:30 left — rather than doing it earlier.
In the beginning of the game, the Silvertips started out strong, limiting Portland to just one shot through the first few minutes while generating a few chances of their own. A roughing call on Winterhawks forward David Hoy set Everett up on their second power-play of the period. Roest hit the side-netting on a one-timer from the left circle at 18:30, briefly bringing a portion of the Angel of the Winds Arena crowd to its feet and fooling it into thinking the shot went in. Forward Shea Busch followed up with a chance on the right post about 10 seconds later, but it got cleared away to keep things scoreless through the first period.
“Every game, you have those moments. Personally, there’s always a couple chances or plays like that that you look back on and you wish you could have done something differently,” Roest said. “But that’s hockey.”
Both goalies stopped everything through the first half of the game, but Landon DuPont pounced at the first vulnerability. A shot from forward Dominik Rymon hit Stebetak and flipped over his shoulder, landing on the goal line behind him. DuPont jumped in to push the puck across, giving Everett a 1-0 lead at 9:57. The exceptional status defenseman extended his goal-scoring streak to four games. He ends his first WHL playoffs with 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in 10 games, which ranked third on the team behind Roest (19) and Smith (16).
The Silvertips threatened to double their lead twice in 15 seconds, but Stebetak went right back to business. A sliding right pad save robbed forward Clarke Schaefer of scoring on Portland’s exposed net at 11:45, and he gloved forward Jaxsin Vaughan’s breakaway chance 13 seconds later.
🤯 OH MY, ONDREJ 🤯@PDXWinterhawks | #NHLDraft | #WHLPlayoffs | #FeedingTheFuture
🔗 https://t.co/3EeoTLQLRl pic.twitter.com/85PFgf1WRp
— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) April 23, 2025
Portland turned things up in the final minutes, nearly scoring on 3-on-1 and 2-on-2 rushes back-to-back before a Silvertips defenseman swept it out of danger, but Winterhawks captain Kyle Chyzowski cashed in with 38.4 seconds left in the period, skating in and beating LeGall five-hole to tie it 1-1.
Kaplan’s goal early in the third period breathed life back into the building, but it was sapped by the final horn. Forward Nolan Chastko slumped down on the bench. Defenseman Rylan Pearce put his arm around forward Jesse Heslop as the team waited for the series-ending handshake line. Hamilton stared at the Jumbotron above his head before joining the back of the line.
“Heart-breaking. It’s been an incredible year with an incredible group,” said Hamilton, who was in his first season behind Everett’s bench. “The ending feels abrupt. I just, I feel for the guys. Played hard, played hard all year and such an amazing group of kids, and such a great staff. I mean, so many positive things, and then it just stops, and you never really have the words at this time of year.”
Once the Winterhawks left the ice, the Silvertips remained. Smith and defenseman Kaden Hammell raised their sticks in the air to salute the crowd, and the rest of the team followed suit, taking one final lap around the ice before skating away from the 2024-25 season.
“Every guy in that room wanted it bad,” Smith said. “Everyone is capable. We had a great team, and it sucks to see it come to an end this early, but I think my biggest takeaways are just like remembering this feeling and coming back next year even better.”
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