It wasn’t pretty, but the Silvertips managed to polish off their first-round series against the Spokane Chiefs with a 4-1 victory, thus winning the best-of-seven series 4-2. After Everett went ahead 2-1 in the first period, it was agonizing watching the Tips try to play in the second. They’re lucky they were on the power play much of the second period because they couldn’t seem to get anything right. But as poorly as Spokane Arena treated them in Games 3 and 4, perhaps it was just a matter of time before the Tips caught a break. It also doesn’t hurt to have a top goaltender like Leland Irving on your side.
Some random musings:
– Peter Mueller’s opening goal was the best solo effort I’ve seen this season. He just toyed with Chiefs defenseman Mike Reddington, then somehow came up with the finish with zero time to react. That’s exhibit A as to why the Phoenix Coyotes made him the eighth overall pick in last year’s NHL draft.
– I got a bit of a kick out of when Kyle Beach and David Rutherford met during the customary series-ending handshakes. One gets the feeling the two renowned agitators kind of admire one another.
– Everett drew Prince George in the second round. That means that the Tips managed to draw the furthest possible opponent in each of the first two rounds, making for a lot of miles on the team bus.
– Spokane’s got a goaltending controversy brewing for next season. The Chiefs gave up a lot to acquire Kevin Armstrong last season. However, Dustin Tokarski, who got the call when Armstrong became ill before the start of the series, was fantastic throughout the series. Armstrong will be 19, Tokarski 18.
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