EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips did almost everything right Thursday night in Game 4 of the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference finals against the Kelowna Rockets. They finally unlocked the Kelowna defense, they scored the all-important first goal and they built upon their lead, and their power play was nearly perfect.
So at the end of the night when the scoreboard read Kelowna 4, Everett 3, the Silvertips were left pondering what went wrong.
"I don’t know," a somber Everett right wing Barry Horman said. "Maybe we sat back on our heels a little bit once we had the lead and just had mental lapses. Usually we’re pretty solid when we get up."
Before an Everett Events Center crowd of 8,099, Tyler Mosienko broke a 3-3 tie 1 minutes, 44 seconds into the third period and the Rockets clamped down on defense the rest of the way, taking a 3-1 series lead. Everett must now win three straight to advance, beginning with Game 5 Saturday in Kelowna.
The Silvertips put themselves in exactly the position they were looking for, with power-play goals from Jeff Schmidt and Zach Hamill staking Everett to a 2-0 first-period lead. Everett also had its best game offensively overall, outshooting the Rockets for the first time in the series (34-28) and going 3-for-4 on the power play.
But Everett, usually so strong with the lead, gave up three consecutive goals to Troy Bodie, Cam Paddock and Blake Comeau to fall behind 3-2. The Silvertips clawed back behind Horman’s power-play goal late in the second period, but Mosienko’s effort finally sank the Tips.
"We gave them their goals tonight," Everett defenseman Mitch Love said. "Territorially I thought we outplayed them, but they’re a team that if you give them a chance, like any team, they’re going to score big goals at big times. That’s exactly what they did tonight. We just beat ourselves and put ourselves in a little bit of a hole."
Mosienko’s goal was the greatest gift. Kelowna’s Simon Ferguson created a turnover against the right boards in the Everett zone. The puck went straight to Mosienko, who was coming out of the right corner all alone. Mosienko skated in front and beat Everett goalie Jeff Harvey to give the Rockets the lead and complete Kelowna’s comeback.
"They were up two, they play well defensively and we haven’t led the league in scoring by any stretch of the imagination," Kelowna coach Marc Habscheid said. "So you always feel good when you can get four goals to win the game."
Kelly Guard finished with 31 saves to earn the win in net for Kelowna. Harvey notched 24 saves for Everett.
The Silvertips scored their first power-play goal 5:08 into the game. Chad Bassen found himself wide open in the right circle and although his first shot was blocked by Guard, Schmidt was there at the near post to force in the rebound, giving the Silvertips the lead with his first goal of the playoffs.
Everett then scored again on the power play at 15:12. Hamill poked a puck in front, where a crowd of bodies converged. Hamill emerged from the scrum with the puck in the left slot and with a couple of stickhandling moves he got past Guard and slotted the puck inside the post to make it 2-0. It was the 15-year-old’s third goal of the playoffs.
The Silvertips were flying, but the Rockets blunted Everett’s momentum with a goal with 1:04 remaining in the first, turning the game completely on its head.
First, Bodie scored on a rebound when Shea Weber’s wide shot bounced hard off the boards and back into the crease, making it 2-1 at 18:56 of the first. Then Kelowna tied it at 5:05 of the second, Paddock slapping a shot through Harvey’s wickets on a two-on-one. Finally, the Rockets completed the turnaround when Justin Keller’s nifty backhanded pass created havoc in front of then Everett net, eventually leading to Comeau poking the puck home at 10:09 of the second.
But just when it seemed Everett was down for the count, the Silvertips again struck on the power play. This time Mitch Love’s slap shot through traffic rebounded into the right slot, and Horman was able to slide it into the far corner to tie it back up at 3-3 at 18:52, his fourth of the playoffs.
Slap shots: The Silvertips were once again without left wing Tyler Dietrich. Dietrich was scratched for the second straight game with soreness in his head and neck from a hit suffered during Everett’s second-round series against Vancouver. … Everett had 15 shots on goal in the second period and 14 shots on goal in the first period. The Silvertips managed just 14 shots on goal in the entire of Game 2, which Kelowna won 2-1.
First Period—1, Everett, Schmidt 1 (Bassen), 5:08 (pp). 2, Everett, Hamill 3 (Armstrong, Dahl), 15:12 (pp). 3, Kelowna, Bodie 7 (Weber, Gorges), 18:56. Second Period—4, Kelowna, Paddock 3, 5:05. 5, Kelowna, Comeau 4 (Paddock, Keller), 10:09. 6, Everett, Horman 4 (Love, Dahl), 18:52 (pp). Third Period—7, Kelowna, Mosienko 4 (Ferguson), 1:44. Shots on goal—Kelowna 10-5-13—28. Everett 14-15-5—34. Power-play opportunities—Kelowna 0 of 2. Everett 3 of 4. Goalies—Kelowna, Guard 11-3 (34 shots, 31 saves). Everett, Harvey 8-5 (28 shots, 24 saves). |
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.