The Game (Story)
KENT – Given that the Everett Silvertips and Seattle Thunderbirds are two of the top three defensive teams in the Western Hockey League, goals figured to be tough to come by as the U.S. Division rivals opened their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal playoff series Friday.
And, for the first two periods fans saw the tight-checking, low-scoring defensive contest many anticipated. But Everett scored twice in the opening 3:37 of the third period and went on to defeat Seattle 3-0 before 4,222 fans at ShoWareCenter to a 1-0 series lead.
“You have to win four to win a series and it’s tough to win four,” said Everett forward Matt Fonteyne. “It gets harder every time because the other team is playing more desperate than at the start of the series so we’re not going to let up or anything. They’re a good team and they’re going to get some guys back here soon so we just need to stick to our game.”
The Thunderbirds were playing without a pair of key forwards. Keegan Kolesar was serving the final game of a two-game suspension carrying over from Seattle’s first-round sweep of Prince George, while Ryan Gropp is week-to-week with an undisclosed upper-body injury. Top Seattle defenseman Jerret Smith was a late scratch due to illness.
“I think it makes a big difference, but in the same sense we can’t worry about it,” Everett forward Remi Laurencelle said. “We just have to play our game if they’re in or not. We just have to play the same way we played tonight. Just keep getting pucks deep and doing what we did today.”
The T-Birds had lost only once in regulation since falling to the Tips Feb. 20 at Xfinity Arena. Seattle struggled against Everett this season as the Tips fashioned a 6-2-1-1 record against the division-champion Thunderbirds during the regular season.
However, Everett had lost the final three games to Seattle during the regular season. Furthermore, the Tips had scored just once on Seattle goaltender Landon Bow in those three games combined.
On Friday Laurencelle scored twice and Fonteyne added a power play tally as the Tips won their fifth straight playoff game.
Silvertips goalie Carter Hart continued his dominance against the Thunderbirds as he finished with 26 saves and his first career postseason shutout. Friday’s effort followed a regular season in which Hart had a 1.32 goals-against average and a .951 save percentage against Seattle while playing all 10 games.
“You just have to prepare the same way every game and tonight was an all-out war and we came out ready to battle,” Hart said. “We knew that they were going to be firing and they were going to be coming and we stepped up tonight and had some goals from Remi and Fontsy and some big blocks from (Brandon) Ralph and (Brian) King.”
The Silvertips clung to a tenuous 1-0 lead through two periods, but finally capitalized on their seventh power play opportunity to open the final period.
Following a shorthanded shot from Seattle’s Scott Eansor, Fonteyne secured the puck in the Tips defensive zone and sliced his way to the front of the Seattle net and flicked it over Bow’s shoulder to make it 2-0 at 2:11 in the third.
“We all know he can do that,” Laurencelle said. “He’s got a ridiculous amount of skill and you always get to see it once in a while. I think I saw it a couple of times during the season, just nice fancy moves like that and he just seems to squeak by. Obviously it was a huge goal for sure and a nice one.”
Laurencelle then scored his second of the night at 3:37 with a backhanded shot through traffic and the Tips led by three.
The final score belied what was a defensive battle for the first two periods. The penalties were swift and plentiful in the opening period. Neither team could take advantage although Seattle had an apparent goal called back for interference at 13:06 in the opening period.
“We took four penalties (in the first period) so it’s hard to know if we had been any good offensively,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “But when you have four penalty kills you’re not getting in a rhythm, you’re not getting your lines rolling and we were lucky to get out that first period without being down a goal.”
The Tips broke the scoreless deadlock at the 11:00 mark in the second period. Carson Stadnyk collected the puck in the corner and found Laurencelle unchecked in the slot. Laurencelle deked once and flicked a wrist shot under Bow’s left pad for a 1-0 lead on Everett’s 14th shot of the game.
Everett drew back-to-back penalties in the final minute of the second period to go up two men. Jarret Tyszka was assessed a two-minute penalty for roughing. Nineteen seconds later he was joined by Calvin Leth, who was given a double minor for roughing when Everett’s Patrick Bajkov started bleeding.
The Tips couldn’t capitalize in the second, so the two-man advantage carried over to the third and set up Fonteyne’s goal.
Game two will begin at 5 on Sunday at ShoWareCenter. The series shifts to Xfinity Arena in Everett for game three on Wednesday.
“We have one more game here and they’re a great team,” Laurencelle said. “They’re going to come hard the next game and we have to be ready for that.”
The Game
The Tips scored three goals so they won. It really has been that simple for the Tips against Seattle this season. Everett has won when scoring fewer (2-0 on Oct. 24, 2-1 on Jan. 30), but the Tips have not lost when scoring three-plus goals in a game against the Thunderbirds.
Friday was something of an aberration as Seattle goalie Landon Bow had allowed just one goal in the previous three games against the Tips to conclude the regular season – including two shutouts and a 2-1 shootout victory in which Bow saved all seven Everett attempts. For those scoring at home Bow went 216 minutes with one goal allowed before Laurencelle broke the deadlock midway through the second period Friday.
Clearly not having Gropp, Kolesar and Smith in the lineup was a factor. Kolesar will be back Sunday, but Gropp’s status is uncertain. Smith was a game-time decision before being scratched due to illness.
The Tips were just 1-of-9 against the WHL’s best penalty killing unit, but what a goal it was. Fonteyne went coast-to-coast on the power play and roofed his shot past Bow for a 2-0 lead at 2:11 in the third to push Everett’s advantage to 2-0. More importantly the Tips held Seattle scoreless on its five power play chances.
Seattle’s best chance came about five minutes into the second period. Mathew Barzal found himself all alone on the Everett blueline as the Tips were changing lines. He had a one-on-one chance with Hart, but buried the shot in Hart’s midsection to keep the game scoreless.
The Tips were outshot 13-4 in the opening period – mostly because they took four penalties – but held a 25-13 shot advantage over the final two periods.
The Turning Point
Matt Fonteyne’s power play goal at 2:11 in the third period doubled Everett’s lead to 2-0.
Three Stars
1. Everett G Carter Hart: Pretty easy choice here as the 17-year-old star recorded his first career postseason shutout with 26 saves.
2. Everett F Remi Laurencelle: The overager had two goals for the Tips.
3. Seattle F Josh Uhrich: The former Saskatoon Blade was a physical presence for the T-Birds.
HM: Everett F Matt Fonteyne (1G), Everett F Carson Stadnyk (2A, plus-two rating), Everett D Noah Juulsen (1A, plus-two rating).
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