EVERETT – One word sums up the Everett Silvertips’ feelings regarding their 3-1 Western Hockey League loss Sunday night to the Kelowna Rockets.
Frustration.
Frustration from outshooting their opponents 29-11 – and losing.
Frustration from giving up only one shot on goal the entire third period – and watching that shot settle into an empty net.
Frustration from seeing what proved to be the game-winning goal take an unfortunate deflection off a skate.
“Obviously it’s frustrating,” said Everett left wing John Lammers, who scored the Silvertips’ lone goal. “But I think you’ve got to take positives out of it. It’s early in the season and no one’s expected to win all 72 games. What you’ve got to do is take everything positive that you can – we got a lot of scoring opportunities – and maybe be a little more disciplined.”
Before an Everett Events Center crowd of 4,535, Troy Bodie scored twice in the first 11 minutes – including a wayward shot that banked in off Everett defenseman Cody Thoring’s skate – Justin Keller added an empty netter, and Derek Yeomans made 28 saves in goal for Kelowna. The defending WHL champion Rockets (2-3), riddled with injuries, snapped a three-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, Everett pounded away at the Kelowna goal, but Lammers’ first-period goal was all the Silvertips had to show for their efforts. In the final two periods Eric Doyle hit a post and the Tips had several hacks at the puck from in close, but Yeomans turned them all away.
“We were very fortunate,” Kelowna coach Jeff Truitt said. “We grinded it out. Obviously it wasn’t pretty. Our goaltending stood really tall for us tonight, and to come out of a really hard game with two points against a team that’s very well balanced, we’re not fooling ourselves by saying this is a dominating effort.”
This is unfamiliar territory for Everett. The Silvertips (1-2) are more accustomed to being on the other side of the ledger, having been significantly outshot many times the past two seasons only to find a result. Everett goaltender Leland Irving practically had the night off, making a mere eight saves.
“It’s kind of like it’s the opposite of our series with Kelowna the last two years,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “Normally against Kelowna we got our butts kicked, got outshot and outchanced, scrambled and got good goaltending and found a way to win at times. Tonight I thought territorially we were a little better, we had a few more scoring chances. Their goaltender played well, they found some timely goals and beat us.”
After going 7-for-14 on the power play in its first two games, Everett was 0-for-5 Sunday.
Everett outshot Kelowna 9-5 in the first period, yet found itself trailing 2-1.
First, Bodie kept the puck in the zone along the right boards, got away from Jason Fransoo to get free on goal, then scored with a nice move to give the Rockets a 1-0 lead at 2:41.
Everett tied the score at 8:47. Zach Hamill broke into the zone along the right and fed Lammers coming through the middle. Although Lammers’ first shot was saved, he tracked down the rebound on the right side of the net and put the puck in behind a stranded Yeomans, giving him goals in each of Everett’s first three games.
Kelowna went ahead for good with a power-play goal at 10:29, thanks to a fortunate bounce. Bodie’s shot from the right circle was heading wide. However, it deflected off Thoring’s skate and into the goal at the far post to make it 2-1.
It remained 2-1 until 55.3 seconds remained in the game, when Keller streaked into the Everett zone, took a feed from Brent Howarth and scored into an empty net.
Slap shots: Everett captain Torrie Wheat was scratched for the second straight game because of a foot injury. … Former Silvertip defenseman Ryan Blatchford suited up for the Rockets. Blatchford, who played two seasons in Everett, was released last week because of the Tips’ overabundance of overagers. … Kelowna also played without its captain, center Tyler Spurgeon, who is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury. Left wing Lauris Darzins (shoulder) and defenseman Kyle Cumiskey (back) also sat out the game with injuries.
Rockets 3, Silvertips 1
Kelowna201-3
Everett100-1
First Period-1, Kelowna, Bodie 3, 2:41. 2, Everett, Lammers 3 (Hamill, Calla), 8:47. 3, Kelowna, Bodie 4 (Edler, Comeau), 10:29 (pp).
Second Period-No goals.
Third Period-4, Kelowna, Keller 2 (Howarth), 19:04 (en).
Shots on goal-Kelowna 5-5-1-11. Everett 9-9-11-29. Power-play opportunities-Kelowna 1 of 4. Everett 0 of 5.
Goalies-Kelowna, Yeomans 2-1 (29 shots, 28 saves). Everett, Irving 1-2 (10 shots, 8 saves).
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