Late goal lifts Thunderbirds over Silvertips

KENT — The Everett Silvertips tilted the ice, with 47 shots on goal to Seattle’s 20, and left the Showare Center content with their play and effort.

But sometimes ‘puck luck’ can swing a game in an unintended direction. For Everett, that’s what transpired on Saturday.

Nolan Volcan buried a one-timer after a fortuitous bounce off the boards with 2:21 remaining in regulation, lifting the Thunderbirds to a 2-1 win over Everett.

“I thought we played a good game. I thought we worked and competed,” Silvertips head coach Dennis Williams said. “It comes down to a bounce there off the boards. And that’s the way it goes.”

Seattle’s captain crashed the net and clapped in a rebound that caromed off the boards behind Everett’s net after a shot from Matthew Wedman.

“One of our guys missed the track on Volcan, which, you have to know when he’s on the ice. Same with Wedman (and Noah) Philp,” Williams said. “There’s some pretty high-end skill there. Heart and soul guys. Good for them. They hung in and did what they did to get those two points, and that’s what it’s all about this time of year.”

The Silvertips pulled goaltender Dustin Wolf for the extra attacker, and were presented with a 6-on-4 advantage after Tyrel Bauer was sent to the box for a check-from-behind penalty with 1:51 remaining. The Silvertips struggled to retain the puck in their offensive zone and time expired before a last ditch effort.

The Silvertips weren’t able to solve Thunderbirds netminder Roddy Ross, who made 46 saves.

Volcan opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 9:34 in the second period, getting a stick on a slap shot from Simon Kubicek and redirecting it past Wolf.

THE GOAL IS GOOD 🚨

We got a tie game, 1-1! #LetsGoTips pic.twitter.com/friGKYvnYd

— xy Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) March 10, 2019

Robbie Holmes tied it up at 14:37, batting down the puck with his glove, after Ross parried a shot from Connor Dewar up in the air, down to his stick and tapping it in for his 12th goal of the season. The referees immediately waived the goal off, but the call was overturned upon replay review.

Despite being outshot 34-13 over the first two periods, Seattle carried a 1-1 tie into the final period.

“I thought we dictated and outplayed them,” Williams said. “I don’t think they outchanced us or we need to bury our chances. For a group that’s playing thin last night and into tonight and the travel, I thought we put in an honest effort and played an honest hockey game.”

Everett was shorthanded on Saturday as 19-year-old forward Max Patterson was scratched due to an upper-body injury suffered in the Silvertips’ 2-0 win over Tri-City. Patterson’s presence was sorely missed up the middle, with Bryce Kindopp, a winger, playing ample shifts at center in his absence. The Kamloops, British Columbia, native has 14 goals and 25 assists in 61 games this season.

“I think you give our kids a lot of credit,” Williams said. “They’ve faced a lot of adversity ever since (Riley) Sutter went out on Dec. 29. We’ve been moving guys around and shuffling them, and it seems whenever we gain one back we lose one.”

The loss snapped a five-game winning streak and a eight-game point streak for Everett.

“We have to think about what’s important next,” Dewar said. “The games with Seattle down the stretch have been really close and they’ve been really exciting and a lot of fun to play in. It could go any way every nice when you’re playing against a team that can give you their best every night. We just have to move past it.

“It’s not so much worried about (Vancouver), it’s just worrying about what we’re doing.”

Notes

— Martin Fasko-Rudas will miss Tuesday’s game at Portland because of exams in Slovakia, which requires him to fly back to his home country.