Late-game heroics lift Silvertips past Spokane

EVERETT — Forward Connor Dewar has shown a knack for scoring timely goals since debuting for the Everett Silvertips as a 16-year-old rookie in 2015.

Dewar did so again Sunday when he scored the tying and winning goals in a span of less than two minutes as the Silvertips upended the Spokane Chiefs 6-5 in overtime in a Western Hockey League game in front of 4,187 fans at Angel of the Winds Arena.

“It’s an important win after losing to Seattle (Saturday) night,” Dewar said. “Down the stretch here the division games are really important, and it’s nice to salvage that game and get a win.”

Dewar has 27 goals on the season and has a 10-game point streak. The native of The Pas, Manitoba, has 13 goals and six assists in those 10 games.

His game-winner came off a feed from Wyatte Wylie on a two-on-one rush at 1:10 in overtime. It sent the Tips streaming from the bench into the corner to celebrate.

“He’s like the Energizer Bunny,” Everett head coach Dennis Williams said of Dewar. “You pull the string at the beginning and he doesn’t stop until that final buzzer. It’s amazing how he can come out and play with that high intensity with the way he plays. He’s heavy on pucks, he’s physical, he’s not a soft perimeter hockey player, and that’s taxing. But he finds a way to win those stick battles and he doesn’t get pushed off too much.”

U.S. Division-leading Everett (32-16-1-2, 67 points) had won eight straight before falling 3-2 Saturday night in a shootout at Seattle.

The Tips managed to shrug off any lingering fatigue from yet another run of three games in three days to gut out the victory over Spokane (26-19-3-2, 57 points).

“This is a great group,” Williams said. “They battled, and we said we’re not using this as an excuse, the three-in-three or the travel. That may not have been a pretty one, but two points is two points, and we’ll take it.”

The Tips never led Sunday’s game in regulation and faced a 5-3 third-period deficit when goalie Carter Hart misplayed the puck along the boards and it ended up in the net at 4:38.

Wylie drew the Tips back within one at 5-4 with a wrister from the point on the ensuing shift. It was his second goal of the game.

Dewar then forced overtime when he stashed the puck past Spokane goaltender Dawson Weatherill with 23.2 seconds remaining in regulation.

“I think that just goes to show the character we have in our room and our guys and the leadership group that we have,” Hart said. “Any time you’re down in the third period, it’s tough to come back, and that just shows how resilient we are and we just power through.”

Nearly lost in the late-game excitement was the fact that Patrick Bajkov tied Zach Hamill’s franchise record of 262 career points on Dewar’s game-tying goal. It was the second of Bajkov’s two assists in the game.

“In the back of your head you’re always thinking about it a little bit, but obviously that was a huge game with that big tying goal by Dewar,” Bajkov said. “There was a lot of emotions going on at once. It was an exciting game and fun to be a part of.”

The game was tied 3-3 after two periods.

Then Spokane struck quickly to take the game’s only two-goal lead. Kailer Yamamoto finished a backdoor pass from Jaret Anderson-Dolan at 2:16 in third.

Yamamoto then found Anderson-Dolan at the front of the net after intercepting an errant clearing pass from Hart along the boards to make it 5-3.

Then came the heroics of Wylie and Dewar.

“We got a lot of character in that dressing room and we proved it tonight,” Bajkov said. “We were able to bounce back, and I think that we proved to ourselves that we’re capable of anything if we work hard and stick to what we know.”

With Everett trailing 2-1 after one period, the Silvertips’ Spencer Gerth recorded his first goal since being reacquired from the Victoria Royals when he tipped in Kyle Walker’s point shot at 2:52 to tie the game 2-2.

But a giveaway behind the Everett net three minutes later led to Yamamoto kicking the puck to Anderson-Dolan with his skate. Anderson-Dolan flicked the puck past Hart to reclaim the 3-2 lead for Spokane.

Everett answered with Wylie’s power-play wrister from the point to make it 3-3 through two periods.

The Chiefs used a power play of their own to strike first at 10:15 in the opening period when Jake McGrew redirected a Yamamoto shot up and over Hart for the 1-0 lead.

Everett drew even five minutes later when Matt Fonteyne crashed the net and buried a rebound of a Bajkov shot for his 30th goal of the season.

Fonteyne is the first Silvertip to tally 30 goals in a season since Kohl Bauml three years ago.

The deadlock didn’t last. Luke Toporowski put Spokane back on top at 17:22 when his shot trickled through Hart’s legs and into the net to give the Chiefs a 2-1 lead through one period.

Yamamoto finished with a goal and three assists. nderson-Dolan scored twice and added one assist.

The Tips play at Portland Wednesday. The tipoff is at 7 p.m.

For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.

Silvertips 6, Chiefs 5, OT

Spokane 2 1 2 0 —5

Everett 1 2 2 1—6

1st Period—1, Spokane, McGrew 12 (Yamamoto, Smith), 10:15 (PP). 2, Everett, Fonteyne 30 (Bajkov), 15:07. 3, Spokane, Toporowski 5 (McKay), 17:22. Penalties-Richards Evt (high sticking), 10:02; Vitelli Evt (tripping), 18:40.

2nd Period—4, Everett, Gerth 4 (Butt, Walker), 2:52. 5, Spokane, Anderson-Dolan 26 (Yamamoto), 5:58. 6, Everett, Wylie 4 (Richards, Fasko-Rudas), 10:30 (PP). Penalties-Hamaliuk Spo (boarding), 8:37; Kral Spo (interference), 15:43.

3rd Period—7, Spokane, Yamamoto 9 (Anderson-Dolan, Smith), 2:16 (PP). 8, Spokane, Anderson-Dolan 27 (Yamamoto), 4:38. 9, Everett, Wylie 5 (Dewar, Christiansen), 5:08. 10, Everett, Dewar 26 (Pilon, Bajkov), 19:36. Penalties-Walker Evt (holding), 1:54; Reid Spo (interference), 11:33.

OT Period—11, Everett, Dewar 27 (Wylie, Pilon), 1:10. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal—Spokane 15-14-12-1-42. Everett 16-13-18-1-48.

Power Play Opportunities—Spokane 2/3; Everett 1/3.

Goalies—Spokane, Weatherill 14-9-3-2 (48 shots-42 saves). Everett, Hart 19-3-0-2 (42 shots-37 saves).

A—4,187