EVERETT — Kyle Beach may have pulled a fast one on his former teammates.
The former Everett Silvertips star, who now plies his trade for the rival Spokane Chiefs, scored the game-winning goal in Spokane’s 3-2 overtime victory over Everett on Monday. And it’s a goal that maybe shouldn’t have counted.
Beach scored the game winner 1 minute, 13 seconds into overtime when he knocked the puck away from Everett goaltender Thomas Heemskerk, then from behind the net banked it in off a defender.
Heemskerk, who thought he had the puck covered, was incensed. He argued with referee Derek Zalaski well after the game had ended, but to no avail.
“I had it to my blocker side, I had it covered, and with force (Beach) pushed it out and kind of knocked me over,” Heemskerk said.
“It’s not fair when you have it covered and they just push it out from under you,” Heemskerk added. “The ref didn’t explain it or anything. It was hard to take.”
Beach, speaking to the Spokane Spokesman-Review following the game, acknowledged that Heemskerk had the puck covered.
“He had it covered, I kind of jabbed at it and popped it free,” Beach said. “I knew he was out of position, I tried to throw it out front. I’m not sure if it went off him or off the defenseman, but I got a lucky bounce and it ended up in the back of the net, that’s all that matters.”
For Everett it was a tough way to lose a game, especially against a team right behind the Tips in the standings. But after looking at video of the goal the Tips accepted that Zalaski didn’t have the best view the incident.
“Heemer thought he had it, but the referee was behind him, so he couldn’t really see it,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “It’s not something I’m fretting about. Calls even up over the course of a year. There’s good calls four you, bad calls, you have to live with it and move forward.”
Added Heemskerk: “I would have hoped for a whistle, but after talking to (Hartsburg), the referee was on the other side and didn’t have a clear view. I had it covered and they didn’t blow it down, so it’s a tough break.”
Hartsburg was more concerned with what led up to the winning goal than the circumstances surrounding the goal itself.
Everett went into the third period leading 2-1, but the Tips committed three penalties in the final 11 minutes of regulation to hand the Chiefs momentum. Kellan Tochkin took a tripping penalty in the offensive zone at 9:03 of the third period, Radko Gudas was whistled for delay of game for putting the puck over the glass from the defensive zone at 12:17, and Gudas took another penalty when he was whistled for interference with 22 seconds remaining in regulation.
Spokane tied it on the power play after Gudas’ first penalty, then won it on the power play after Gudas’ second penalty.
Heemskerk was the primary reason why Everett was able to salvage a point as he made 45 saves.
“I’m more concerned with why we took three penalties in the last 11 minutes,” Hartsburg said. “That was our doing that. We can’t blame the referee on the winning goal. We should never have been in that position.”
Hartsburg’s overall evaluation of the game?
“We didn’t play very good,” he said. “I thought our second period was fine. Even the third period I thought we were OK until we got ourselves in penalty trouble. Tochkin took two bad penalties in the game, and then there’s an over-the-glass penalty and the last one by Gudas. It’s penalties you can’t take at critical times, they kill you. If you do that in the playoffs it will cost you a game.”
The net result was a tightening of the race for second place in the U.S. Division. Portland is in second, one point ahead of Everett, with Spokane another two points behind. The Tips and Chiefs each have 13 games remaining in the season, while Portland has 11 games remaining.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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