EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips were on the rack.
The Prince George Cougars were threatening to ruin Everett’s night, a lightning double strike in the third period cutting a seemingly secure Tips lead to one.
But a special goal from the player with the golden touch made su
re Everett’s crunch weekend remained on track.
Tyler Maxwell’s incredible tip goal on Ryan Murray’s shot turned Prince George back for good, and the Silvertips defeated the Cougars 4-2 Saturday night at Comcast Arena to remain perfect on a weekend vital to their playoff chances.
“That was a huge goal,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “One goal against that team isn’t much because they have dangerous players. So it was a huge goal, a great play by Ryan Murray and a great tip.”
Kent Simpson played another strong game in goal for Everett, making 31 saves to keep the Cougars at bay and allow goals by Clayton Cumiskey, Josh Birkholz and Maxwell to stake the Tips to a 3-0 lead.
However, Charles Inglis and Brett Connolly scored 20 seconds apart midway through the third period to change the game’s complexion.
Prince George seemed poised for an epic comeback. But that didn’t account for Maxwell. With 3 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the game, Murray wristed a shot toward goal from the right point. Maxwell, his back to the goal, reached out with his stick and dragged the puck back with the blade. The puck squeezed under Cougars goaltender Ty Rimmer and clinched Everett’s victory.
“Ryan got the puck at the point, he had a nice shot and I just got the tip of my blade on it and it just squeaked through Rimmer’s pads,” Maxwell said. “I was fortunate that it went in and it was good to get the momentum after Connolly scored that second one.”
It was Maxwell’s second straight two-goal game and his ninth multiple-goal game of the season. He leads the team with 33 goals.
The victory gave Everett (20-23-3-4) its first back-to-back wins in the second half of the season. The last time the Tips won two straight was on Dec. 17-18 when Everett topped Spokane and Tri-City in the final two games of the first half.
The results from the past two days also dramatically changed Everett’s playoff position in the tight race for the Western Conference’s final playoff berths. The Tips began the weekend alone in the conference cellar. But just like that Everett finds itself tied for seventh and just four points back of sixth-place Prince George.
Everett takes on Seattle, a team the Tips beat 7-0 at home on Friday, tonight in Kent with a chance to cap off a six-point weekend.
“This is huge for us, because these points are very important,” said Murray, who finished with three assists. “But I thought we could have been better tonight. There were times when we were great and times when we were just average. We won with a big thanks to our goalie, Simmer.”
Rimmer finished with 23 saves for the Cougars (24-23-2-1), who were unable to mount a desperation comeback attempt because of two penalties taken in the final 3:14.
“We did a lot of good things and probably deserved some better fates on some of our chances,” Prince George coach Dean Clark said. “But give credit to Kent Simpson, he played a pretty strong game for them.
“We just can’t give up that fourth goal,” Clark added. “And with two penalties at the end, we’re not helping ourselves.”
Everett couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first period, registering no shots on goal for nearly 11 minutes and no shots on goal from inside the offensive zone for more than 15.
And then in the blink of an eye the Tips led 2-0.
It began with one strong shift, as the Tips caused havoc in the Prince George zone. Eventually Josh Winquist picked out Cumiskey open in the slot, and Cumiskey waited out Rimmer before firing over the downed goalie to open the scoring at 18:32.
Then less than a minute later it was 2-0. Jari Erricson’s pass released Birkholz down the middle. Birkholz’s shot beat Rimmer to give the Tips a shock two-goal lead.
Everett then made it 3-0 just 41 seconds into the second period. The Tips began the period on the power play, and Maxwell was able to bank the puck in off Rimmer from the side of the net.
Prince George seemed down and out as the Tips salted away the third period, but the Cougars turned the game suddenly. Inglis put a bullet from the top of the left circle in off the underside of the crossbar at 11:44, then 20 seconds later Connolly was released free into the zone and beat Simpson to make it a one-goal game and jangle Everett’s nerves.
Silvertips 4, Cougars 2
Prince George 0 0 2—2
Everett 2 1 1 — 4
First Period—1, Everett, Cumiskey 7 (Winquist, Murray), 18:32. 2, Everett, Birkholz 13 (Erricson, Walters), 19:25. Penalties—Vlach, Prince George (hold stick), 0:53; Maxwell, Everett (hooking), 7:37; Vlach, Prince George (goaltender interference), 19:35.
Second Period—3, Everett, Maxwell 32 (Harrison, Murray), 0:41 (pp). Penalties—Fowlie, Everett (high sticking), 2:18; Stanfield, Everett (holding), 5:31; Giebel, Everett (delay of game), 9:18; Yadlowski, Everett (delay of game), 18:41.
Third Period—4, Prince George, Inglis 20 (Bourke, Forsberg), 11:44. 5, Prince George, Connolly 28 (Vlach, Hirsche), 12:04. 6, Everett, Maxwell 33 (Murray, Hayer), 16:02. Penalties—Carlson, Prince George (goaltender interference), 16:46; Inglis, Prince George (hooking), 18:52.
Shots on goal—Prince George 8-16-9—33. Everett 7-7-13—27. Power-play opportunities—Prince George 0 of 5. Everett 1 of 4.
Goalies—Prince George, Rimmer 10-12-0-1 (27 shots, 23 saves). Everett, Simpson 14-16-3-4 (33 shots, 31 saves).
A—6,179.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.
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