EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips may have received a few gifts courtesy of the Saskatoon Blades goaltenders Wednesday night.
But Shane Harper didn’t require any assistance on the game winner.
Harper scored a highlight-reel goal with just over a minute remaining in regulation, giving the Silvertips a 4-3 victory over the Blades.
Each of Everett’s first three goals were ones Saskatoon’s goaltenders probably feel they should have stopped. But there was nothing Braden Holtby could have done when Harper sliced in from the left and wrapped the puck around him into the far corner with 1 minute, 4 seconds remaining.
“I think I caught a little bit of a break,” Harper said. “I think the ref may have interfered with (the defenseman) a little bit. I got the puck and just decided to put my head down and cut to the net. Luckily I think Vitali (Karamnov) was driving the net and kind of bought time from the other D-man, and then I just put it in on the far side.”
Said Everett coach John Becanic: “We’ve been working on that. If you take the puck across the crease the goalie’s going to end up having holes. (Harper) got fortunate to get across the crease.”
Harper’s goal gave Everett (6-6-0-0) the victory in something of an odd game. The Tips outshot Saskatoon 36-20, yet up until Harper’s goal the only time they found the net was when Holtby or Garrett Zemlak let in a soft one.
Meanwhile, Saskatoon took advantage of Everett’s fourth line and seemed to find the seams when needed. Walker Wintoneak’s power-play goal with 5:20 remaining made it 3-3 and looked like it would salvage at least a point for the Blades. Instead Saskatoon (3-9-1-0) suffered its fifth straight defeat.
“The first three goals were B chances,” Everett coach John Becanic admitted. “But between those we had about 20 A-plus chances. Sometimes that’s how it goes.”
Saskatoon coach Lorne Molleken has been critical of his goaltenders in the media recently, and the first half of Wednesday’s game it was easy to see why. Zemlak stopped just three of the five shots he faced — he never moved on Dan Gendur’s backhander, then he allowed Graham Potuer’s shot from the point to bounce off his glove and in — before being yanked late in the first period. Then Holtby came in and let an innocuous wrister from the point by Dane Crowley to sneak in over his shoulder midway through the second.
However, Holtby also made several good saves — 29 in total — to make up for his miscue and keep the Blades in the game.
“It was a hard game, both teams worked hard,” said former Tip Ondrej Fiala, making his return to Everett as a Blade. “They outworked us tonight. We made some mistakes and we paid for it.”
Leland Irving finished with 17 saves to earn the win for the Tips. However, Irving also struggled when attempting to play the puck, making it an adventure each time he left the crease.
Travis Toomey and Justin McCrae scored Saskatoon’s other two goals.
“It was a good game,” Everett defenseman Dane Crowley said. “We didn’t play our best in the first period, but in the second period we played hard. Shots and bounces didn’t go our way, but finally Harper goes to the net and things go our way.”
Everett didn’t play particularly well in the first period, and again the Tips found themselves having to kill off a wealth of early penalties. However, thanks to some shaky goaltending by Zemlak, Everett found itself with a 2-0 lead.
First, just 2:56 into the game, Gendur got the puck in the high slot and shoveled a backhander into the corner, Zemlak never seeing the puck.
Then at 18:14 it was 2-0. Potuer slapped a seemingly harmless shot toward goal from the right point. Zemlak put up his glove to catch it, but the puck tipped off and looped over and into the net, giving the Tips a 2-0 lead and sending Zemlak to the bench in favor of Holtby.
Saskatoon then turned the game on its head with a pair of goals six minutes apart early in the second period. First, at 3:00, Toomey poked the puck home after Derek Hulak set him up on the rush to make it 2-1. Then at 8:20 the Blades moved the puck around, with a deflection going right to McCrae for an easy shot into an open net to tie it up.
But once again Blades goaltending did Everett a favor. This time Crowley’s seemingly harmless wrister from the right point snuck over Holtby’s shoulder at 9:10 to restore Everett’s lead.
Slap shots: Everett played without captain Jonathan Harty who’s out with a hip pointer. Chris de la Lande took Harty’s spot in the lineup, making just his second WHL appearance. … Saskatoon was without its top defenseman, Jyri Niemi, who suffered a jammed wrist in Tuesday’s 4-2 loss at Portland.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
Silvertips 4, Blades 3
Saskatoon021—3
Everett211—4
First Period—1, Everett, Gendur 6 (Beach, Potuer), 2:56. 2, Everett, Potuer 1, 18:14. Penalties—Dailey, Everett (checking from behind-checking from behind), 3:45; Klassen, Saskatoon (delay of game), 8:18; Alexander, Everett (holding), 12:27; Beach, Everett (hooking), 14:54.
Second Period—3, Saskatoon, Toomey 1 (Hulak, Patterson), 3:00. 4, Saskatoon, McCrae 5 (Klassen, Philp), 8:20. 5, Everett, Crowley 2, 9:10. Penalties—Klassen, Saskatoon (tripping), 5:00; Flatters, Saskatoon (fighting), 8:53; Beach, Everett (fighting), 8:53; Gillies, Saskatoon (tripping), 10:36; Hamill, Everett (cross checking) 11:41; Crowley, Everett (interference), 12:09; Patterson, Saskatoon (roughing), 18:42.
Third Period—6, Saskatoon, Wintoneak 3 (Klassen, McCrae), 14:40 (pp). 7, Everett, Harper 3 (Mistelbacher, Ellington), 18:56. Penalties—Wintoneak, Saskatoon (interference), 9:53; Crowley, Everett (holding), 9:53; Zahn, Saskatoon (interference), 10:49; Beach, Everett (delay of game), 14:22.
Shots on goal—Saskatoon 8-9-3—20. Everett 5-15-16—36. Power-play opportunities—Saskatoon 1 of 7. Everett 0 of 5.
Goalies—Saskatoon, Zemlak (5 shots, 3 saves), Holtby 3-7-0-0 (31 shots, 29 saves). Everett, Irving 6-5-0-0 (20 shots, 17 saves).
A—4,755.
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