PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — The new year is treating the Everett Silvertips extremely well.
Everett continued its roll through 2015 as the Tips knocked off the Prince George Cougars 4-1 Wednesday night.
Kohl Bauml scored twice for the second straight night as Everett (30-12-3-1) won its sixth straight and completed a two-game sweep of its back-to-back games at Prince George.
Carson Stadnyk and Nikita Scherbak also scored for the Tips, Ben Betker added two assists, and Carter Hart earned the win in goal with 17 saves.
Aaron Macklin scored the lone goal for Prince George (20-26-1-1), which dropped its seventh straight. Tavin Grant finished with 22 saves in net for the Cougars.
It’s as if a switched flipped for the Tips when the calendar turned to January. Since the beginning of the new year Everett is 9-1 — eight of those games being on the road — and has outscored its opponents 44-13. The Tips have converted 19 of their 47 power plays during that stretch, good for a 40.4-percent conversion rate. Their goaltenders have a .955 save percentage.
That sets up a big-time showdown this weekend as Everett takes on the league-leading Kelowna Rockets on Friday and Saturday in Kelowna. The Tips have pulled within seven points of the Rockets for first place in the WHL’s Western Conference.
Everett opened the scoring on the power play 13 minutes, 19 seconds into the game as Stadnyk put in a rebound with just two seconds remaining on the advantage, giving the Tips a 1-0 lead.
The Tips then scored just after a power play expired 2:00 into the second. Scherbak and Bauml played a give-and-go, with Scherbak putting the shot away to make it 2-0.
Prince George got on the board with a power-play goal of its own at 8:06 of the second. Macklin tipped Shane Collins’ shot, and the puck just trickled past Hart to make it 2-1.
But Everett put the game away in the third. Bauml restored the Tips’ two-goal advantage just 32 seconds into the period, converting a pass from Stadnyk after Stadnyk drew the defense. Bauml then ended the game as a contest at 7:22 when he put home a rebound to make it 4-1.
Silvertips 4, Cougars 1
Everett 1 1 2—4
Prince George 0 1 0—1
First Period—1, Everett, Stadnyk 18 (MacDonald, Bajkov), 13:19 (pp). Penalties—Leedahl, Everett (fighting), 0:06; Bethune, Prince George (fighting), 0:06; Skrumeda, Everett (interference), 2:58; Pfeifer, Everett (fighting), 5:26; Macklin, Prince George (fighting), 5:26; Mrkonjic, Prince George (delay of game), 11:21; Scherbak, Everett (slashing), 18:17; Soltes, Prince George (interference), 19:59.
Second Period—2, Everett, Scherbak 21 (Bauml, Betker), 2:00. 3, Prince George, Macklin 3 (Collins, Olson), 8:06 (pp). Penalties—Laurencelle, Everett (boarding), 4:41; Mykitiuk, Everett (holding), 7:54; Bajkov, Everett (unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:12; Hopkins, Prince George (unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:12.
Third Period—4, Everett, Bauml 22 (Stadnyk, Bajkov), 0:32. 5, Everett, Bauml 23 (Betker, Stadnyk), 7:22. Penalties—Low, Everett (interference), 1:29; Fonteyne, Everett (holding), 8:45; MacDonald, Everett (tripping), 13:53.
Shots on goal—Everett 6-10-10—26. Prince George 7-5-6—18. Power-play opportunities—Everett 1 of 2. Prince George 1 of 7.
Goalies—Everett, Hart 10-3-2-0 (18 shots, 17 saves). Prince George, Grant 2-4-0-0 (26 shots, 22 saves).
A—2,363.
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