Cougars blank Silvertips

EVERETT – Ten days ago the Everett Silvertips played the role of a cat burglar, sneaking into Prince George and stealing a pair of wins away from the Cougars.

Tuesday night the Cougars took one back.

Prince George scored both its goals as a result of turnovers, and the Silvertips lost to the Cougars 2-0 in a Western Hockey League game before a crowd of 3,117 at the Everett Events Center.

“I would say that up there they outplayed us and we won,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “Here I’d say the game was a little more evenly played. Tonight I didn’t feel we gave up any scoring chances at all until they scored their first goal.”

Said Everett right wing Barry Horman: “We should have won that game. That was a must-win game for us if we want to win the division, so I’m disappointed by this.”

Everett (24-20-7-1), which remained two points behind U.S. Division-leading Tri-City, beat Prince George 3-2 on Jan. 23 and 3-0 on Jan. 24, thanks in large part to the play of No. 2 goalie Michael Wall. Wall was back in net Tuesday, but this time the Cougars (24-24-6-1) found a way past him. Chris Falloon and Dustin Byfuglien scored third-period goals to break open what had been a tight defensive game.

And in the rare moments when the Silvertips were able to penetrate the Prince George defense, Cougars goalie Justin Pogge made the necessary stops. Pogge finished with 27 saves for his second straight shutout – he shut out Kelowna 2-0 last Saturday.

“I certainly think we felt we deserved to win both games in Prince George and were not rewarded for our efforts,” Prince George coach Lane Lambert said. “You have to credit them, they played perfect road games and got some hot goaltending. But our goaltender was good tonight and maybe we stole one here.”

The game, which was somewhat antiseptic in the first two periods, caught fire in the third after the Cougars took the lead. Prince George’s Nick Drazenovic took the puck away on the right side of the Everett zone and sent a bouncing pass in front. Falloon, crashing the net, short-hopped a one-timer past Wall to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead at 3 minutes, 51 seconds. It was Falloon’s 22nd goal of the season.

From there the Silvertips, who dressed just 18 players because of a combination of injuries and illness, increased the pressure. However, it was Prince George that found the back of the net again. With the Silvertips on the power play, Byfuglien jumped Mitch Love’s attempted long pass at the center line, skated into the zone and blew a shot past Wall to make it 2-0 at 8:47 with his 11th goal of the season.

Everett continued to press, but could not score. Even when Prince George’s Devin Featherstone picked up a holding penalty with 2:54 to go and Everett pulled Wall, the Silvertips were unable to find the net despite the two-skater advantage.

Constantine said Everett’s lack of bodies contributed to the Silvertips’ offensive struggles.

“We played with a little bit of a depleted lineup and energy wise, when you can’t roll four lines, you’re not going to have the same energy every shift,” Constantine said. “Based on that I thought we played a smart game. We just turned one puck over in the third period and they put it in the net.”

Wall finished with 23 saves.

Slap shots: Everett’s continued health woes forced the Silvertips to dress just 18 players – teams are allowed to suit up 20. Right Wing Torrie Wheat returned from his shoulder injury, but forwards Chad Bassen, Riley Armstrong and Tyler Dietrich and defenseman Cody Thoring were held out because of injuries, and defenseman Devin Wilson was scratched because of the flu. Forward Jeff Schmidt also was suffering from the flu, but was able to play. In addition, young replacements Jordan Funk and Brady Calla, who filled in Friday in Everett’s 3-2 loss in Portland and Saturday at home in a 4-1 win against Kamloops, returned home following the weekend’s games. As a result, the Silvertips were forced to continually change up their line configurations and defensive pairings. … In their previous visit to Everett, the Cougars spoiled the inaugural game at the Everett Events Center, beating the Silvertips 3-1. … Tuesday’s game was the first of Prince George’s two-week, seven-game road trip.

Cougars 2, Silvertips 0