Big crowd watches Tips beat T-birds 2-1

EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips got just the start to the second half of the season they were looking for.

But they had to sweat a little to get it.

The Silvertips took an early lead, then survived a disasterous three-minute period and held on to defeat the Seattle Thunderbirds 2-1 Saturday night in a Western Hockey League contest.

Before a crowd of 8,467 at the Everett Events Center – the largest of the season – Chad Bassen and John Dahl scored goals for Everett (15-13-5-1), which seemed energized from its 10-day break for Christmas.

“We had a long break, so we just wanted to get back into the swing of things, get the puck deep in the corners, work hard, get our legs going,” said Everett left wing Marc Desloges, who played an important role in both Silvertip goals despite barely touching the puck. “It’s good to start out the second half of the season with a win. Hopefully we’ll keep it going.”

Everett goalie Jeff Harvey made 23 saves as the Silvertips avenged their 4-0 loss on teddy bear night the previous time Seattle was in town.

“The last time Seattle was here it was a big game and we kind of stunk it up, losing 4-0,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “We didn’t want to play two bad games in a row in our own building against them.

“We weren’t perfect after being off 10 days in a row, but I thought we played hard.”

Everett had to play its hardest in the third period after the game swung dramatically in the final three minutes of the second.

Everett led 2-0 and, looking to put the game away, the Silvertips took a timeout with 2 minutes, 51 seconds remaining in the second period and Everett on the power play.

However, the move backfired. Nine seconds after the timeout momentum turned as Dustin Johner picked the puck off Devin Wilson and scored on a breakaway to cut the lead to 2-1. Then as the penalty ended, Nate Thompson stole the puck from Riley Armstrong and broke away, forcing Armstrong to bring him down for a penalty with 48.1 seconds to go. Finally, Everett looked like it scored a shorthanded goal of its own when Jeff Schmidt put the puck in the net on a breakaway as time expired in the period. But the goal was nullified by Cody Thoring’s tripping penalty behind the play, giving Seattle a 1:12 of five-on-three advantage to start the third period.

But Everett regained its composure during the intermission and killed off the penalties, thanks in part to Ryan Gibbons’ tripping penalty 17 seconds in.

“That was definitely the turning point in the game in terms of giving them a chance to win,” Constantine said about the end of the second period. “We were fortunate to be able to survive it and get the two points.

“We killed off the five-on-three – we were helped by their penalty – and after that I thought we were pretty steady,” Constantine added. “They had chances, but I didn’t think any of them were absolutely great chances.”

Josh Lepp made 28 saves in goal for Seattle (10-17-6-2), some of the spectacular variety.

“I’m not pleased with the result, but I thought we played hard and for the most part played well,” said Seattle assistant coach Rob Sumner, who’s filling in while head coach Dean Chynoweth helps with the Canadian junior national team. “We had some lapses, but I thought our effort was pretty strong.”

Everett took the lead at 18:40 of the first period. Desloges hardly touched the puck, but he held up two Seattle defenders while the puck drifted toward the goal at his feet, and Bassen was able to scoop the puck past Lepp’s glove for a 1-0 lead. It was Bassen’s 10th goal of the season.

Everett doubled its lead with a power-play goal at 7:27 of the second period. Barry Horman, loitering in space on the left, centered for Desloges in front. Desloges whiffed on his one-timer, but the pass continued to the far post where Dahl was on hand to punch it in and make it 2-0 with his 12th of the season.

Slap shots: Everett left wing Tyler Dietrich is near to returning, but was scratched again Saturday. Dietrich, who has played just four games this season because of shoulder injuries, practiced full-speed Friday. … Seattle played without three regulars. Forward Chris Durand, Seattle’s third-leading scorer, and defenseman Scott Jackson were competing at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge in St. John’s, Newfoundland. In addition, Matthew Hansen, the T-birds’ top scorer among defenseman, was absent because of a death in the family.

At Everett