KENNEWICK — The Everett Silvertips had a number of players set individual franchise and league records during the regular season.
Now the Tips are one win away from creating some team history following a 3-1 win over the Tri-City Americans in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals before 3,537 fans at Toyota Center Thursday night.
The win gave Everett a commanding 3-1 series lead with Game 5 slated for Angel of the Winds Arena on Saturday. It marks a chance for the Tips to clinch just their second Western Conference title in franchise history and it would be the first title won at home.
“We really put a lot of emphasis on how we play and how we want to play, and also we understand how big of an opponent we have and be cognitive of things they like to do,” Everett head coach Dennis Williams said. “Right now I like our mindset. But we have to regroup from this game and learn from it and continue to get better.”
Everett’s only conference championship came during its inaugural season in the 2004 playoffs when it clinched with a Game 7 win at Kelowna.
Tips goaltender Carter Hart finished with 29 saves Thursday. The two-time defending WHL goaltender of the year was at his best during Tri-City’s third power play late in the second period when he kept the shutout intact with a brilliant save away from the crease on Dylan Coghlan’s slap shot from the slot.
“That was huge,” Williams said. “(Hart) was solid, was aggressive, limited his rebounds and tracked pucks really well. The big part of that penalty kill, I thought, was Ondrej Vala (making) a big block right in the slot and it’s not easy … (Vala) did a great job to step in front and get a block on it.”
The Tips killed three penalties in the second period as they kept Tri-City’s potent man advantage scoreless after allowing two power-play goals in Monday’s 8-4 victory in Game 3.
“The penalty kill tonight was really big for us,” Hart said. “I know we’ve kind of had some trouble with these guys on the penalty kill the past few games so it was nice to shut them out on the penalty kill tonight.”
Everett led 1-0 when it killed off the third penalty. On the very next shift Reece Vitelli skated in on a two-on-one and fired a wrister from the left circle that beat Patrick Dea blocker side for a 2-0 lead at 17:22.
“We definitely used that as momentum,” said Everett forward Riley Sutter, who scored Everett’s first goal earlier in the second. “We talked about that between periods and on the bench. We use anything for motivation even little things like that, whether it’s a kill or a big hit. We try to pick up anything that pushes us in a positive direction.”
Everett took the 2-0 lead into the final period, but Tri-City’s Riley Sawchuk cut the deficit to 2-1 at 5:45 when he roofed the puck over Hart off the rush.
That is how it remained until Everett’s Matt Fonteyne was tripped from behind on a rush toward the empty net at 19:20 and awarded the goal to make it 3-1.
“We knew after we beat them in Game 3 that they were going to be coming harder than they were in past games and we had the same expectations,” Sutter said. “They outworked us for the majority of the game, but fortunately we got a few lucky bounces that went our way.”
Everett opened the second on the penalty kill following a scoreless opening period. The Tips and used a pair of impressive saves from Hart to keep the shutout intact.
Everett finally broke through at 9:48. Tri-City defenseman Anthony Bishop broke his stick and Sutter collected the loose puck, walked in and beat Dea glove side for a 1-0 Everett lead.
“I think it took both teams a little bit (to get going),” Williams said. “It was a pretty warm building out there tonight and pucks seemed to be bouncing on both sides of it. After the first I thought we did a really good job in the second. I thought we started using our speed more and transitioning quickly.”
The Silvertips came up empty on two power-play opportunities in a scoreless first period. The two teams each tallied nine shots in the opening frame.
Dea finished with 23 saves in the loss.
Silvertips 3, Americans 1
Everett 0 2 1 — 3
Tri-City 0 0 1 — 1
1st Period—No Scoring. Penalties—Yaremko Tc (slashing), 8:29; Mutala Tc (too many men), 16:39; Fasko-Rudas Evt (interference), 18:47.
2nd Period—1, Everett, Sutter 6 9:48. 2, Everett, Vitelli 4 (Kindopp, Vala), 17:22. Penalties—Dewar Evt (interference), 6:56; Christiansen Evt (tripping), 14:53.
3rd Period—3, Tri-City, Sawchuk 2 (James, Välimäki), 5:45. 4, Everett, Fonteyne 6 19:20 (EN). Penalties—No Penalties.
Shots on Goal—Everett 9-11-6-26. Tri-City 9-11-10-30.
Power Play Opportunities—Everett 0 / 2; Tri-City 0 / 3.
Goalies—Everett, Hart (30 shots-29 saves). Tri-City, Dea (25 shots-23 saves).
A—3,537
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