EVERETT — For 63 minutes the Everett Silvertips tried to be a bit too fine, tried to find that perfect play in order to beat a goaltender at the top of his game.
So, it’s perhaps ironic that it was the most basic of plays that gave Everett the victory.
Dan Gendur scored the most routine goal imaginable during overtime, giving the Silvertips a 2-1 victory over the Portland Winter Hawks Friday night at Comcast Arena.
Gendur banged in a rebound off a shot from the point at 3:20 of OT to give Everett (26-20-0-2) its third straight victory and its eighth in its past 10 games.
And the goal came in the simplest possible manner. Jonathan Harty got the puck along the right boards and sent a pass to Graham Potuer at the center point. Potuer gathered and sent a rather tame wrist shot along the ice. Portland goaltender Kurtis Mucha, who turned in a stellar performance, kicked the rebound into the left slot, where Gendur banged it home.
“The coaches have been telling us to find that spot on the back door,” Gendur said. “Rebounds usually come out there and I was just lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time.”
Clayton Bauer scored in regulation for Everett and Shayne Barrie had a solid night in goal for the Tips, making 28 saves.
But the Tips had their hands full against Portland (9-35-1-1), the team with the worst record in the league. Everett had a lot of quality scoring chances, particularly early in the game, but Mucha turned them all aside. He finished with 38 saves.
After that the Tips began getting a little too precise, and the Winter Hawks gradually played themselves back into the game. It culminated with Jacob Dietrich scoring midway through the third period to tie it up and earn the Winter Hawks a point.
“We had great scoring chances,” Everett coach John Becanic said. “We just spent a lot of time in our own zone defending, more than I would have liked. And I think we turned over some pucks tonight trying to be too creative instead of just making the simple play.
“(The Winter Hawks) played hard, so give them credit,” Becanic added. “That’s the hardest I’ve seen them play all year, and Mucha was Mucha. We had about 30 scoring chances and about 15 of them were A-plus. He kept the game close.”
Although Everett had a wealth of scoring chances, Portland also had chances it couldn’t capitalize on. The Tips will have to play better tonight if they want to keep their winning streak alive when Spokane, ranked second in the entire Canadian Hockey League, comes to town.
“It felt a little sloppy,” Gendur said. “I don’t know what it was, but we need to be better, obviously, (today) against a top-three opponent in the CHL in Spokane. We got a victory in their barn last game, but we probably played one of our worst games of the season.”
Everett was all over the Portland goal in the first period, but the Tips were unable to get anything past Mucha. Gendur and Zach Hamill both had free runs at goal that Mucha was able to save, and Bauer had a shot that rang off both posts, but nothing ended up in the net and the game remained scoreless.
The game evened out in the second period, but Everett found a way to finally get a puck past Mucha. Gendur raced into the offensive zone down the left, put on the brakes, then centered the puck for Bauer. Bauer managed to force a shot that got through both a Portland defender and Mucha to give the Tips a 1-0 lead.
Portland kept chugging and tied it up at 7:55 of the third. Keith Voytechek dug the puck out along the right boards and fed a pass all the way across the ice to Dietrich, who was steaming off the bench. Dietrich one-timed a shot past a stranded Barrie to make it 1-1.
Everett nearly won it late in regulation, but Mucha made a great save to deny Vitali Karamnov in close, and the game went to overtime.
Slap shots: A total of just five penalties were called the entire game. … Everett had center Zack Dailey back in the lineup. Dailey missed Wednesday’s 2-1 victory in Spokane because of a stiff back. … Everett dressed an extra defenseman, going with seven at the back and just 11 forwards. … Portland center Colin Reddin, recently signed away from the U.S. National Team Development Program U-18 team, remains sidelined because of transfer red tape. With five other players out injured Portland dressed just 17 skaters.
Silvertips 2, Winter Hawks 1 (OT)
Portland0010—1
Everett0101—2
@5. NHL box :First Period—No goals. Penalties—Ius, Everett (holding), 3:18.
Second Period—1, Everett, Bauer 17 (Gendur, Potuer), 2:20. Penalties—Hamill, Everett (hooking), 14:54; Bauer, Everett (slashing), 18:01.
Third Period—2, Portland, J. Dietrich 12 (Voytechek, Grecica), 7:55. Penalties—Walker, Portland (tripping), 2:02; King, Portland (high sticking), 18:11.
Overtime—3, Everett, Gendur 17 (Potuer, Harty), 3:20. Penalties—None.
Shots on goal—Portland 8-11-9-1—29. Everett 14-7-15-4—40. Power-play opportunities—Portland 0 of 3. Everett 0 of 2.
Goalies—Portland, Mucha 7-22-1-1 (40 shots, 38 saves). Everett, Barrie 7-4-0-0 (29 shots, 28 saves).
A—6,071.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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