EVERETT — John Becanic is a changed man.
During the first two weeks of the Western Hockey League season the Everett Silvertips coach was talking up the way his team was improving following three-goal losses.
Now he finds himself commenting on how average his team played following three-goal victories, such as Saturday’s 4-1 win against the Portland Winter Hawks at Comcast Arena.
The transformation of Becanic’s post-game interviews is striking — as well as proof positive of the difference a mere 10 days can make.
“I thought we had an average performance at best,” Becanic opined. “We played in spurts. It might have been one of our worst performances of the first nine games.”
Becanic may have characterized it as average, but it was more than enough to give Everett a three-game winning streak. The Tips (4-5-0-0) have now won four of five since opening the season with four straight defeats.
Dan Gendur led the way for the Tips, registering two goals and an assist, and Leland Irving continued his recent solid play in net, stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced.
Vitali Karamnov added a goal — his first in the WHL — and an assist for Everett, Zach Hamill also scored, and Kyle Beach and Jonathan Harty each notched two assists.
“It feels good to get the team going,” Gendur said. “It was a little bit of a struggle at the start, but I think we’ve figured things out. There’s still some little things we need to work on, but other than that I think we had a very good effort tonight.”
Matt Schmermund scored Portland’s lone goal. Kurtis Mucha made 31 saves in goal for the Winter Hawks (1-7-0-0), who lost their third straight.
“I thought we were right there,” Portland coach Rich Kromm said. “We were in the game, and even when we were down one goal we were still right there. Then they scored a big, big goal on a big effort by Beach (to set up Karamnov’s goal that made it 3-1), but a soft play by us in front of the net.”
For two periods Everett had the run of play, but didn’t do much with it. However, the Tips still found themselves with a 2-1 lead thanks to Irving’s goaltending and special teams. Both of Everett’s second-period goals, which erased a 1-0 deficit, were scored on the power play, the first on a five-on-three advantage and the second 48 seconds later on the ensuing five-on-four. Meanwhile the Tips killed off five Portland power plays, including a lengthy five-on-three.
But then in the third Everett’s even-strength offense finally emerged from its hibernation. Coming into the game the Tips had scored 24 goals, just five coming at even strength. But Karamnov and Gendur scored five-on-five goals in the first eight minutes of the third to put the game away. Karamnov’s goal came after Beach held the puck up in front of goal at 4 minutes, 17 seconds, Gendur’s came on a nice feed from Karamnov at 7:42.
“I thought we played too much poke-and-go hockey instead of run-them-over hockey,” Becanic said. “Eventually in the third period we started to run over them and it was amazing how much ice opened up to create offense.
“Average play with great goaltending will get you wins, that’s the reality of it,” Becanic added. “Irv looked like he was in control the entire night. He didn’t seem like he was out of position or flopping around, he made every save look relatively easy.”
After a scoreless first period, Portland grabbed the lead 5:10 into the second. The puck fumbled itself up the ice and wound up in the left slot, where Schmermund was able to put it behind Irving to make it 1-0.
But the Tips special teams went to work shortly after. Everett received a lengthy five-on-three and scored on both power plays to go ahead 2-1. Both goals came in similar fashion as first Hamill slapped a shot from the left point into the far corner at 9:06, then Gendur slapped a shot from the left point that slipped between Mucha’s legs off a deflection at 9:54.
Slap shots: Everett welcomed center Zack Dailey back to the lineup. Dailey missed the previous three games because of the concussion that sent him to the hospital 10 days earlier. … Once again Everett shuffled it’s No. 1 line, this time Shane Harper lining up on the left alongside Zach Hamill and Kyle Beach. Harper was the fourth different player tried on that line as Everett sought to increase its five-on-five offense. … With three defensemen out injured, Portland was forced to employ center Chris Francis on defense.
Silvertips 4, Winter Hawks 1
Portland 0 1 0—1
Everett 0 2 2—4
First Period—No goals. Penalties—Beach, Everett (interference), 1:47; Undershute, Portland (roughing), 8:59; Ellington, Everett (hooking), 19:19.
Second Period—1, Portland, Schmermund 2 (Undershute, Betker), 5:10. 2, Everett, Hamill 3 (Harty, Gendur), 9:06 (pp). 3, Everett, Gendur 3 (Beach, Harty), 9:54 (pp). Penalties—Francis, Portland (holding), 8:03; Gabriel, Portland (roughing), 8:42; Potuer, Everett (holding), 11:00; Undershute, Portland (roughing), 14:07; Potuer, Everett (holding), 14:07; Mistelbacher, Everett (roughing), 14:07; Burt, Everett (hooking), 15:33; Schmermund, Portland (boarding), 18:32.
Third Period—4, Everett, Karamnov 1 (Beach), 4:17. 5, Everett, Gendur 4 (Karamnov, Skauge), 7:42. Penalties—Gabriel, Portland (cross-checking), 19:51; McLaren, Portland (roughing-10-minute misconduct), 19:51; Walker, Portland (10-minute misconduct), 19:51.
Shots on goal—Portland 7-10-8—25. Everett 12-13-9—34. Power-play opportunities—Portland 0 of 5. Everett 2 of 6. Goalies—Portland, Mucha 1-5-0-0 (35 shots, 31 saves). Everett, Irving 4-4-0-0 (25 shots, 24 saves). A—6,193.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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