EVERETT — So this is the new brand of Everett Silvertips hockey?
Defensive breakdowns left and right? Bad penalties at inopportune moments? The new era of Silvertips hockey may have debuted Friday night with more goals, but the first sample wasn’t very conducive to winning.
Tri-City capitalized on Everett defensive mistakes early, then Tips penalties late as the Americans spoiled Everett coach John Becanic’s debut, defeating the Tips 6-5 at Comcast Arena.
Shaun Vey scored the game-winning goal with 2 minutes, 29 seconds remaining as Everett showed little resemblance to the team that was so difficult to score against during it’s four seasons under Kevin Constantine.
“There were good things and bad things,” Becanic said. “I try to draw positives from everything and offensively we created all kinds of good things. The bad thing is we struggled handling their attacks, and obviously discipline was a huge issue that cost us the game as far as I’m concerned.”
Erik Felde and Taylor Procyshen added two goals apiece for Tri-City. Travis Gorman also scored and Chet Pickard made 33 saves in goal for the Americans.
Dan Gendur, Matt Strong, Jonathan Harty, Lukas Vartovnik and Jesse Burt scored for Everett. Leland Irving finished with 26 stops in goal.
Everett appeared to be in control when Vartovnik and Burt each scored in the first two minutes of the third period, Vartovnik on a nice feed from Brandon Campos on the power play and Burt on a terrific second effort, giving the Tips a 5-4 lead.
However, the Tips then began a parade to the penalty box. Everett took four penalties in a six-minute span, handing Tri-City a pair of lengthy five-on-three power plays. The Tips managed to kill off the first penalty both times, but the Americans managed to score on the second both times, each time finding the net before Everett’s fourth skater could join the play.
Procyshen scored the tying goal at 12:00 at the post after a nice passing combination. Vey scored the winner at 17:31 when he forced a shot through Irving from in close.
It was an uncharacteristic number of goals to surrender for Irving, who just returned from training camp with the NHL’s Calgary Flames on Thursday night. The all-star goalie was not at his sharpest as he looked rusty from travel and a lack of games.
“He was OK,” Becanic said of Irving. “He’ll be better (tonight).”
But Irving didn’t get a lot of help, either. The Tips had all sorts of defensive breakdowns, presenting the Americans with a slew of golden scoring opportunities. Surprisingly, it was often Everett’s veterans who were the culpable parties.
“Our forwards were a little slow getting back,” Becanic said. “Then our D made some questionable decisions tonight that gave up some two-on-ones. We’re going through a process of trying to create more offensive and we’re certainly not going to jeopardize our defensive play. I thought in zone we were actually pretty solid, they didn’t keep us hemmed in at any point where I thought we were in trouble. But they scored on their attacks.”
Gendur gave Everett the lead just 1:17 into the game with a wrister from the point on the power play. The teams then traded quick goals late in the first as Everett went into the break up 3-2. Felde scored twice in the second on defensive mistakes as Tri-City went into the third leading 4-3.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/section/BLOG12
Americans 6, Silvertips 5
Tri-City222—6
Everett302—5
First Period—1, Everett, Gendur 1 (Campos, Beach), 1:17 (pp). 2, Tri-City, Procyshen 1 (Stoklasa, Schmidt), 14:02 (pp). 3, Everett, Strong 1 (Mistelbacher), 15:05. 4, Tri-City, Gorman 1 (Lazo, Hughesman), 16:17. 5, Everett, Harty 1 (Gendur, Beach), 18:34 (pp). Penalties—Schmidt, Tri-City (hooking), 0:49; Stoklasa, Tri-City (hooking), 2:55; Beach, Everett (holding), 4:01; Dailey, Everett (tripping), 5:07; Felde, Tri-City (roughing), 9:50; Ellington, Everett (holding), 12:39; Gorman, Tri-City (tripping), 17:59.
Second Period—6, Tri-City, Felde 1, 3:54. 7, Tri-City, Felde 2 (Vey), 14:27. Penalties—Broda, Tri-City (hooking), 2:23; Potuer, Everett (hold stick), 2:23; Woznikoski, Tri-City (interference), 5:10; Potuer, Everett (boarding), 12:03; Gorman, Tri-City (high sticking), 14:53; Mestery, Tri-City (slashing), 19:23.
Third Period—8, Everett, Vartovnik 1 (Campos, Gendur), 0:11 (pp). 9, Everett, Burt 1 (Potuer), 1:50. 10, Tri-City, Procyshen 2 (Stoklasa, Fast), 12:00 (pp). 11, Tri-City, Vey 1, 17:31 (pp). Penalties—Vartovnik, Everett (interference), 2:48; Fast, Tri-City (interference), 3:29; McColm, Tri-City (tripping), 5:14; Macaulay, Tri-City (hooking), 5:35; Ellington, Everett (diving), 5:35; Karamnov, Everett (hooking), 9:54; Sonne, Everett (checking from behind), 10:26; Potuer, Everett (charging), 15:28; Ellington, Everett (hooking), 15:39; Vey, Tri-City (interference), 18:00.
Shots on goal—Tri-City 9-11-12—32. Everett 14-14-10—38. Power-play opportunities—Tri-City 3 of 9. Everett 3 of 10. Goalies—Tri-City, Pickard 1-0-0-0 (38 shots, 33 saves). Everett, Irving 0-1-0-0 (32 shots, 26 saves). A—6,577.
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