Royal flush: Silvertips rout Victoria 9-4

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips played with plenty of emotion Sunday and it wasn’t just because of what was happening on the ice.

Hours after learning that their roster had undergone a significant change, the Silvertips dominated the visiting Victoria Royals 9-4 before before 3,958 fans at Angel of the Winds Arena.

“It was a gutsy effort by our group,” Everett head coach Dennis Williams said. “It goes one of two ways on a Sunday: You’re either going to see the energy and the life or you’re going to see a very dull, boring game. I think you saw both teams (bring energy).”

The Silvertips (24-16-1-1, 50 points) will be adding two key pieces this week from the Kamloops Blazers in Garrett Pilon and Ondrej Vala.

But in doing so they are losing defenseman Montana Onyebuchi and forward Orrin Centazzo, a pair of 2015 bantam picks who were in their second year with the organization.

Onyebuchi and Centazzo were at the game in street clothes Sunday and entertained a steady stream of well-wishers and autograph-seekers.

“We are a really tight-knit group,” Everett co-captain Matt Fonteyne said. “So we just kind of wanted to leave it on a good foot. We didn’t want anything to be sour. It’s tough at the time, but looking forward it’s going to benefit (them).”

Down on the ice, Fonteyne had two goals and two assists, Patrick Bajkov had a goal and four assists, Connor Dewar and Bryce Kindopp each scored twice, and Sean Richards had a goal and an assist. Defenseman Kevin Davis had three assists and fellow blue-liner Wyatte Wylie had two assists as Everett put up a franchise-record 59 shots.

“Coming off two losses, we wanted to put a good effort in,” Davis said. “I think we did a good job putting up a lot of shots against those guys. They’re a good team, so I was impressed with our group.”

The Tips led 6-3 through two periods.

Fonteyne scored two power-play goals in the third period and linemate Bajkov added another as Everett finished 5-for-9 on the man advantage. Victoria’s Andrei Grishakov scored a late goal to give the game its final tally.

Bajkov and Fonteyne each tied his career high for points in a game. The five power-play goals tied a club record on an emotional day in Everett.

“You try not to think about it and you try just to play your game,” Fonteyne said of the day’s big trade. “It was one of those games where the bounces are kind of going your way. The last couple games they haven’t been, so it’s nice to get a shift in the other direction. You kind of just play your own game. It’s always in the back of your head, but you try not to think about it too much.”

The game grew chippy in the third period as Everett’s lead swelled. Virtually every whistle featured pushing and shoving as the teams combined for 33 penalties in the game — including 23 in the third period alone.

“Any time you’re in a game like that, it’s normally how it ends up,” Williams said. “We were just trying to get out healthy, and when you’re on the side we were on, you just want to run time and get out. I’m sure everybody does. That’s hockey and that’s them trying to set a statement, which I totally understand.”

Everett led 2-1 after one period before breaking the game open in the second.

Victoria’s Chaz Reddekopp tied it 2-2 just 32 seconds into the second and Tyler Soy’s shorthanded goal tied it once again at 3-3 at 10:12.

In-between, however, Everett’s Kyle Walker scored his first career WHL goal at 7:10. Then Kindopp, Richards and Dewar answered Soy’s goal in succession as Everett took a 6-3 advantage into the third.

The Silvertips started quickly.

Dewar found the net on the game’s opening shift when his wrister from the slot gave Everett a 1-0 lead just 24 seconds in.

Kindopp added another wrist shot from the slot at 11:40 in the opening period as Everett’s lead grew to 2-0.

Jared Freadrich’s point shot deflected off a Silvertips defender at 12:30 in the first on the power play as the Royals cut the lead to 2-1.

The Tips play host to Tri-City at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday.

For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.

Silvertips 9, Royals 4

Victoria 1 2 1—4

Everett 2 4 3—9

1st Period—1, Everett, Dewar 15 (Bajkov, Walker), 0:24. 2, Everett, Kindopp 12 (Richards, Davis), 11:40. 3, Victoria, Freadrich 10 (Oliver, Kambeitz), 12:30 (PP). Penalties-Wylie Evt (elbowing), 0:48; Anderson Evt (high sticking), 3:07; Oliver Vic (roughing), 4:21; Ormsby Evt (tripping), 11:47; Grishakov Vic (high sticking), 13:52; Fasko-Rudas Evt (hooking), 18:48.

2nd Period—4, Victoria, Reddekopp 6 (Freadrich, Oliver), 0:52. 5, Everett, Walker 1 (Ormsby), 7:10. 6, Victoria, Soy 19 (Phillips, Reddekopp), 10:12 (SH). 7, Everett, Kindopp 13 (Christiansen, Wylie), 10:46 (PP). 8, Everett, Richards 16 (O’Rourke), 14:12. 9, Everett, Dewar 16 (Fonteyne, Bajkov), 18:07 (PP). Penalties-Hannoun Vic (tripping), 4:30; Florchuk Vic (slashing), 8:56; Fasko-Rudas Evt (tripping), 14:39; Jarratt Vic (cross checking), 17:32.

3rd Period—10, Everett, Fonteyne 21 (Davis, Bajkov), 6:53 (PP). 11, Everett, Fonteyne 22 (Bajkov, Davis), 9:45 (PP). 12, Everett, Bajkov 21 (Wylie, Fonteyne), 11:46 (PP). 13, Victoria, Grishakov 13 (Soy, Walford), 12:32 (PP). Penalties-Jensen Vic (charging), 5:02; Phillips Vic (slashing), 6:20; Phillips Vic (roughing), 9:38; Buziak Vic (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 10:41; Jarratt Vic (roughing), 11:46; Jensen Vic (10-minute misconduct), 11:46; Dewar Evt (roughing), 11:46; Wylie Evt (roughing), 11:46; Gerth Vic (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 14:47; Jerome Vic (major-fighting), 14:47; Prowse Vic (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 14:47; Ormsby Evt (10-minute misconduct), 14:47; Walker Evt (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 14:47; Walker Evt (major-fighting), 14:47; Jarratt Vic (10-minute misconduct), 16:48; Oliver Vic (roughing, 10-minute misconduct), 16:48; O’Rourke Evt (roughing), 16:48; Goncalves Evt (holding), 18:31.

Shots on Goal—Victoria 7-11-16-34. Everett 18-25-16-59.

Power Play Opportunities—Victoria 2/6; Everett 5/9.

Goalies—Victoria, McNabb 2-6-0-0 (44 shots-38 saves); Outhouse 21-10-3-1 (15 shots-12 saves). Everett, Wolf 8-5-0-0 (34 shots-30 saves).

A-3,958