The Game
The Everett Silvertips are at the edge of elimination. A Seattle Thunderbirds victory Friday at ShoWare Center prematurely ends a remarkable season that resulted in a U.S. Division title and the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
We’ve watched three straight one-goal victories by Seattle, carrying on a theme that we witnessed during the regular season. The T-Birds always seem to find a way late in games to score the big goal or prevent the Tips from adding the equalizer.
Give the Tips credit for Tuesday’s effort. They could have packed it in after allowing Seattle to take a commanding 3-0 lead less than four minutes into the second period.
But then this happened:
.@tuuski23 makes it a one-goal game! @WHLsilvertips trail T-Birds 3-2. Don’t go anywhere just yet! #EVTvsSEA #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/ISaNibbtdK
— #WHLPlayoffs (@TheWHL) April 12, 2017
Then this:
HERE. COME. THE. TIPS. @tuuski23 makes it a 4-3 game! @WHLsilvertips lead! #EVTvsSEA #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/5Tj4JggxmV
— #WHLPlayoffs (@TheWHL) April 12, 2017
Yes, the Tips scored four unanswered to take a 4-3 lead into the third period.
Then Mathew Barzal took over:
Ho-hum. Just another shift for @Barzal_97. Tie game. #EVTvsSEA #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/1j883JFGVK
— #WHLPlayoffs (@TheWHL) April 12, 2017
That forced overtime:
.@barzal_97 pushes Everett to the brink! @SeattleTbirds strike 1:30 into OT & this one is OVER! #EVTvsSEA #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/ZmIj775MIL
— #WHLPlayoffs (@TheWHL) April 12, 2017
Everett did an excellent job getting out to defend the point and limiting Ethan Bear’s effectiveness. Bear’s NHL-caliber slap shot has burned the Tips before, including last Saturday’s power-player game-winner.
In many ways this game was reminiscent of Seattle’s 4-3 shootout win at ShoWare back on Jan. 6. In that game the T-Birds took a 3-0 lead less than two minutes into the second period only to watch the Tips storm back to tie with three power-play goals. It took overtime and a shootout to decide that one.
The stakes were a little higher Tuesday.
The Turning Point
Barzal’s first goal tied the game at 4:23 in the third period. Seattle went on to dominate the final period as it outshot Everett 10-3 in the final stanza.
Three Stars
1. Seattle F Mathew Barzal: The Western Conference Player of the Year tallied three points including the game-tying and game-winning goals.
2. Everett F Eetu Tuulola: The big Finn had two goals and an assist, and a number of blocks in the Everett zone.
3. Seattle F Keegan Kolesar: The hulking winger scored the game’s first goal off a brilliant feed from Barzal.
Bonus
Colleague Andy Eide has this view from the other side.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.
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