EVERETT — The wiggle room is now gone.
After the Tri-City Americans came into Comcast Arena on Wednesday evening and beat the Everett Silvertips 3-1, the formula became simple if Everett wants home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs:
Win out, or get those bags packed.
“There’s no margin for error any more,” said Everett coach John Becanic, whose team must now win all three of its games this weekend to secure home ice in the first round.
Everett was outworked by a Tri-City team with even more to play for than the Tips, and Adam Hughesman’s tiebreaking goal early in the third period was well deserved as the Americans outshot the Tips 47-24. Only another magnificent performance by Everett goaltender Leland Irving prevented a much more lopsided loss.
Colton Yellow Horn also scored for Tri-City, Shaun Vey added a late empty netter and Chet Pickard made 23 saves in goal for the Americans (50-16-2-2), who reached the 50-win plateau for the first time in franchise history.
The Americans also kept their destiny in their own hands. Tri-City can win both the U.S. Division and WHL regular season titles by winning its final two games. It’s also a chance for the Americans to break a jinx in which they’ve yet to win a banner since moving to Tri-City in 1988.
“If you go back to August, nobody gave us a chance to be where we’re at right now,” Tri-City coach Don Nachbaur said. “But our kids have played pretty well. To win 50 games is a great year and to be in a position to be in first place, that’s all you want. And it’s up to us now.”
Zack Dailey scored the Tips’ lone goal and Irving finished with 44 saves for Everett (39-27-0-3), which not only failed to make up any ground on fourth-place Seattle, but also surrendered its position in fifth. Kelowna, by beating Chilliwack 5-4, moved a point ahead of the Tips.
But despite Wednesday’s results, Everett still controls its own fate. Victories Friday and Sunday against Seattle along with a win Saturday against Chilliwack and the Tips will be home for the first weekend of the playoffs.
“We’ve just got to stay positive and keep working hard,” Irving said. “We want to approach these last three games playing each game like it’s a playoff game. Home ice would be nice, but if you’re not able to play on the road you’re not going to win anyway.”
However, for the Tips to pull it off they’ll have to play better than they did Wednesday. Tri-City won most of the loose puck battles, and when Everett had its best chances to score, the Tips usually missed the net.
“We got outworked, right from the drop of the puck,” Becanic said. “They threw everything they could at net. Tonight we got into the run-and-gun thing, which doesn’t fit our game. But the bottom line is we got outworked.”
Meanwhile the Americans played with the desperation of a team that knew it needed to run the table in the final week to achieve its goals. The Tips would do well to take note.
“I thought we played solid,” Nachbaur said. “It was a great playoff-tempo game, it was end to end. The shot clock leaned in our favor, but as far as quality chances, I think they had just as good a chances as we did. But at the end of the day that’s what we wanted, the chance for going home for two games to win the division and the conference.”
Irving saw plenty of action in the first period, being peppered with 22 shots. Even though the majority of those came from the perimeter, he also had to stand firm on a couple mad scrambles in front to keep the game scoreless.
However, the Americans finally put one past Irving on the power play 7 minutes, 56 seconds into the second period when Yellow Horn outwaited Irving before scoring from the slot.
That began a mad flurry of chances as Everett’s Vitaly Karamnov shot over on a penalty shot, and both teams cleared pucks off the goal line. But it was the Tips who found the net next at 14:22 when Matt Ius skated the puck up the right, circled around the net and slipped a pass out front for Dailey to tie it at 1-1.
Everett nearly took the lead moments later, but Zach Hamill’s shot smacked the post, and Clayton Bauer missed on the rebound.
Then Hughesman scored on a rebound 4:08 into the third period to give the Americans the lead. Everett turned up the pressure late, but was unable to convert it into a goal, and Vey finished off the game by scoring into an empty net with 20.4 seconds remaining.
Slap shots: Yellow Horn went down with a leg injury late in the third period after a collision and did not return. However, Nachbaur said he didn’t think the injury was serious. … Tips prospect Cameron Abney arrived in Everett just prior to Wednesday’s game. The 1991-born forward, who played for the North Delta Devils of the junior B Pacific International Junior Hockey League, will join the team for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs. … There are just single-seat and standing-room-only tickets remaining for Friday’s home finale against Seattle. Single-game playoff tickets go on sale Monday at 10 a.m.
Americans 3, Silvertips 1
Tri-City012—3
Everett010—1
First Period—No goals. Penalties—Hoff, Tri-City (slashing), 12:11; English, Everett (cross checking), 12:11; Procyshen, Tri-City (holding), 17:14.
Second Period—1, Tri-City, Yellow Horn 48 (Reddick, Mestery), 7:56 (pp). 2, Everett, Dailey 6 (Ius), 14:22. Penalties—Harty, Everett (cross checking), 6:22; Hamill, Everett (high sticking), 9:19; Burt, Everett (slashing), 10:19; Gendur, Everett (hooking), 15:03.
Third Period—3, Tri-City, Hughesman 17 (Reddick, Procyshen), 4:08. 4, Tri-City, Vey 27, 19:39 (en). Penalties—Toll, Tri-City (unsportsmanlike conduct), 1:00; Gendur, Everett (cross checking), 1:00; Hoff, Tri-City (hooking), 9:40; Hamill, Everett (diving), 9:40.
Shots on goal—Tri-City 22-9-16: 47. Everett 6-7-11: 24. Power-play opportunities—Tri-City 1 of 4. Everett 0 of 1.
Goalies—Tri-City, Pickard 44-12-2-2 (24 shots, 23 saves). Everett, Irving 27-23-0-3 (46 shots, 44 saves).
A—6,090.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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