SEATTLE — It was, perhaps, a fitting KeyArena send-off for the Everett Silvertips. The building that’s been Everett’s scourge so often over the years provided the Tips one final nightmare.
In their final game ever at KeyArena, the Tips succumbed once again to their biggest curse, falling 5-2 to the Seattle Thunderbirds on Saturday night.
It was a predictable result as Everett, in five-plus seasons, has never solved the riddle of KeyArena. The Tips’ final tally at the Key: 4-20-0-1 with three ties. The T-birds are moving to the Kent Events Center at the end of December.
“Yeah, I am (Ready to leave KeyArena behind),” said Everett defenseman Taylor Ellington, who’s suffered through more than his share of misery at KeyArena in his five seasons with the Tips. “It’s a place I won’t miss, I’ll tell you that.”
And KeyArena teased the Tips in their final appearance. After Seattle dominated the first period and took a 3-0 lead, Everett was given a glimmer of hope by a pair of second-period goals, making it a one-goal game. However, order was restored in the third as Seattle won going away.
The building even sent one final mocking gesture Everett’s way when, with 7 minutes, 27 seconds remaining and Seattle leading 5-2, the Zamboni doors came loose, causing a five-minute delay during an Everett power play.
“Not a lot of fond memories here,” Everett coach John Becanic said. “I don’t believe in jinxes or anything like that, I just think it’s one of those things. There’s no rhyme or reason, sometimes it’s just the way it works in sports.”
Prab Rai had a goal and two assists to lead Seattle (4-9-0-1), which won back-to-back games for the first time this season. Jeremy Boyer, David Richard, Chris Cloud and Jim O’Brien also scored for the T-birds while Calvin Pickard made 19 saves.
“In a nutshell I thought the first was good, the second wasn’t as good, and in the third we were again,” Seattle coach Rob Sumner said. “I thought maybe we got a little cute in the second period and tried going flat through the neutral zone too often. We played a little less risky in the third.”
Daniel Bartek and Kellan Tochkin scored and Kent Simpson stopped 33 shots for Everett (6-6-1-0).
The game was essentially decided during a six-minute span of the first period. The Tips began the game minus two of their top four defensemen — Shayne Brown (hip flexor) and Mike Alexander (ankle) — because of injury, then a third (Graham Potuer) was handed 17 minutes worth of penalties for instigating a fight. Seattle scored its first three goals during Potuer’s time in the penalty box as Everett’s stand-in young blueliners were no match for Seattle’s top forwards.
“Just missing Alexander and Brown is a huge loss, and then they were double-shifting their top two lines (during Potuer’s penalties),” Everett coach John Becanic said. “It didn’t matter who we had on the ice, we were in pretty deep.
“But it was a good learning experience,” Becanic continued. “We got some valuable ice time for some of our guys. I thought our forwards played harder than they did (Friday in a 1-0 loss at Tri-City), but we were a little soft on the back end.”
Seattle took a commanding 3-0 lead through one period. It easily could have been 6-0 as the T-birds continuously skated their way around the makeshift Everett defense.
The T-birds opened the scoing 11:11 into the game when, just as a five-on-three Seattle power play became a five-on-four, Boyer converted a backdoor feed from Lindsay Nielsen. It was 2-0 at 13:24 when Richard’s shot from the left circle deflected off Everett defenseman Chris de la Lande’s stick and over Simpson. The third goal came at 16:45 when Cloud scored on a two-on-one feed from Brenden Silvester.
Everett regained its senses in the second period and cut the deficit to one thanks to a pair of power-play goals. Bartek scored at 10:05 when he was able to tap in a rebound from an Ellington shot, and Tochkin was credited with 2.6 seconds remaining when Tyler Maxwell threw a puck out front that pinballed past Pickard, making it 3-2.
But Seattle put it away in the third, O’Brien jamming a puck just past Simpson at 2:57 on the power play and Rai flipping a shot past a screened Simpson at 9:30.
Thunderbirds 5, Silvertips 2
Everett020—2
Seattle302—5
First Period—1, Seattle, Boyer 4 (Nielsen, Schappert), 11:11 (pp). 2, Seattle, Richard 6 (Rai), 13:24. 3, Seattle, Cloud 3 (Silvester, Boyer), 16:45. Penalties—Bartek, Everett (hooking), 9:06; Ellington, Everett (boarding), 9:33, Potuer, Everett (instigator-fighting-10-minute misconduct), 9:33, LeBlanc, Seattle (boarding-fighting), 9:33; Haas, Seattle (tripping), 17:03; Tochkin, Everett (slashing), 17:21.
Second Period—4, Everett, Bartek 7 (Ellington, Beach), 10:05 (pp). 5, Everett, Tochkin 5 (Maxwell, Froese), 19:57 (pp). Penalties—Burt, Everett (high sticking), 4:38; Nielsen, Seattle (tripping), 9:37; Warg, Seattle (tripping), 17:33; Acolatse, Seattle (roughing), 19:15.
Third Period—6, Seattle, O’Brien 2 (Rai, Scott), 2:57 (pp). 7, Seattle, Rai 9, 9:30. Penalties—Froese, Everett (tripping), 2:42; McDermott, Everett (hooking), 4:59; Richard, Seattle (diving), 4:59; Chaffin, Seattle (interference), 11:33; White, Everett (tripping), 14:13; Beach, Everett (fighting), 16:09; Acolatse, Seattle (fighting), 16:09; Regier, Everett (fighting), 18:53; Dailey, Everett (fighting-10-minute misconduct-game misconduct), 18:53; LeBlanc, Seattle (fighting), 18:53; Parker, Seattle (fighting-game misconduct), 18:53.
Shots on goal—Everett 6-9-6—21. Seattle 15-8-15—38. Power-play opportunities—Everett 2 of 5. Seattle 2 of 6.
Goalies—Everett, Simpson 2-2-0-0 (38 shots, 33 saves). Seattle, Pickard 2-6-0-1 (21 shots, 19 saves).
A—4,439.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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