EVERETT — Fans had barely settled into their seats at Angel of the Winds Arena on Saturday when the Seattle Thunderbirds took a 1-0 lead against the Everett Silvertips, just 1:08 into Game 5 of the WHL Playoffs First Round.
Just 68 seconds. Not a lot of time in the span of a hockey game, but in a best-of-7 series tied 2-2, every second counts. So when the final minute of the first period rolled around with the game tied 1-1 and Everett on the power play, the Silvertips made sure to take advantage.
Thanks to three goals in 44 seconds, Everett surged into the first intermission with a 4-1 lead, which they carried to a 7-4 win and 3-2 series lead. The Silvertips went 5-for-9 on the man advantage, setting a franchise record for most power-play goals in a game.
“We were definitely pumped up,” forward Shea Busch said. “Huge to get those goals, but just coming out there in the second (period) with like a ‘0-0’ mentality and just come ready to play.”
Defenseman Kaden Hammell (one goal, three assists) and forward Dominik Rymon (four assists) led the Silvertips with four points apiece. Busch and Austin Roest each scored twice, while defenseman Tarin Smith chipped in three assists. Goalie Raiden LeGall made 34 saves, and Seattle’s Brayden Schuurman had a hat trick in the loss.
Despite missing four of their top seven scorers – Carter Bear, Tyler MacKenzie, Landon DuPont and Cole Temple – to various injuries in each of the past two games, Everett managed to put up 13 total goals between Games 4 and 5 to pull ahead in the series.
“We’ve just walked a mile in these shoes,” Silvertips coach Steve Hamilton said. “It seems like for the last three months, we just continuously have guys come in and guys go out, and I’m really proud of the way the guys handle that. We don’t spend a lot of time talking about who’s not available. We really do try and just focus on who is, and we got a lot of character guys and good soldiers here.”
After Schuurman gave Seattle the early lead, the Silvertips managed to tie it 1-1 on a power play at 16:44 when Hammell slid the puck past Ratzlaff from the left circle.
Just 25 seconds later, forward Julius Miettinen drew a high-sticking double-minor on Seattle forward Matej Pekar to give Everett a four-minute power play, and Braeden Cootes cleared the puck into the stands 21 seconds after that to turn it into a 5-on-3 for a delay of game penalty.
The Silvertips got busy from there. First, Roest finished off a feed from Rymon on the left side to put Everett ahead 2-1 with the 5-on-3 goal at 19:12. Forward Zackary Shantz doubled the lead to 3-1 at 19:41 at 5-on-4, snapping a loose puck through a crowd of players.
Back at even strength with just seconds remaining, the Silvertips immediately took the center-ice faceoff up on a rush to get a last-ditch shot on goal. With Miettinen trailing the play, the 19-year-old rebounded the initial shot to make it 4-1 with just four seconds left in the period.
“That’s a big goal,” said Hammell, who had the secondary assist. “Obviously, scoring at the end of a period can be a pretty big momentum thing going into the next one, so it was a big goal, and like I said, I think (Miettinen has) been great for us.”
Schuurman scored his second of the night at 1:23 of the second to cut it to 4-2 on the power play, but the Silvertips re-established control before cashing in again on the power play, with Busch tipping in a shot from Hammell to make it 5-2 at 17:15.
“I love playoff hockey,” Busch said. “I just feel like it’s just gotten faster out there, too. But I mean, just got to win around the net. (Hamilton) always talks about that, so that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
However, the Thunderbirds would not go away. Just 34 seconds later, Schuurman completed his hat trick with a shot right after he crossed the blue line.
The 5-3 score was as close as it would get. Hammell connected with Busch again on a power-play redirect goal at 12:16 of the third period before Roest punched in his second of the night at 13:54. Seattle scored their final goal on a 4-on-3 power-play goal from Cootes at 16:15.
Even with the success on the power play and overall offensive output, Hamilton felt there was more to be desired.
“The first period, I didn’t really think we played very well, to be totally honest with you,” Hamilton said. “We benefited from a surge of opportunity, and we did make the most of it. … We just never buckled down tonight, and that’s some areas for cleaning up, and that’s junior hockey. You’re never going to be as clean and tight and tidy as you’d like to be, but we got the job done. We’re not in the business of kicking around wins too hard, for sure.”
The potential series-clinching Game 6 takes place at accesso ShoWare Center in Kent on Monday. The series would return to Angel of the Winds Arena on Tuesday if the Thunderbirds force Game 7.
“I think everybody’s dialed in and on the right page,” Hammell said. “It’s been good to see some of the young guys come up and do really well for us, and it’s been great all-around.”
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