LANGLEY, British Columbia — An afternoon road matinee the day after a dramatic overtime win at home proved no problem for the Everett Silvertips.
The Tips completed a clean sweep of their three-game weekend as they knocked off the host Vancouver Giants 6-1 before 3,537 fans Sunday at Langley Events Centre.
“It’s a quick business — a lot of games and a lot of three-in-threes,” Everett defenseman and co-captain Kevin Davis said. “We knew that Vancouver is a really good team. We just had to come into this building and play a full 60 minutes against those guys.”
The 2 p.m. puck drop came just 16 hours after Everett defeated Seattle 2-1 in overtime before a sellout crowd Saturday at Angel of the Winds Arena.
With Sunday’s win the U.S. Division-leading Tips (44-18-2-3, 93 points) won their third straight and matched their win total from their division-winning season of a year ago.
The Tips have five regular-season games remaining to eclipse the 2009-10 team that won 46 games. The franchise record is 54 victories in 2006-07 when the team won its only Scotty Munro Trophy for the best record in the Western Hockey League.
The Giants, who Saturday clinched their first playoff berth since 2014, fell to 33-23-6-3 (75 points).
Davis scored twice for Everett as the overage defenseman turned in his second two-goal game of the season. The large lead allowed Davis to rest much of the third period.
“(Davis) has been great all year for us,” Tips head coach Dennis Williams said. “He’s our leader back there, he’s a guy we need to play a lot of minutes.”
The teams were tied 1-1 after the opening period, but the Tips broke it open with a four-goal second stanza.
Bryce Kindopp broke the deadlock at 8:43 when a loose puck found his stick in the slot, and his quick wrister over Trent Miner’s right shoulder gave Everett a 2-1 lead. It was Kindopp’s 20th goal of the season as he became the seventh Tips player to reach that milestone this season.
Davis then knocked a puck out of the air and past Miner for a 3-1 lead at 12:25. Three minutes later Garrett Pilon was taken down on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot, which he buried for a 4-1 advantage.
Davis added his second goal on a power play as time expired in the second period. The score initially was waved off, but the referees awarded the goal after a review determined the puck had crossed the line before the period ended, and Everett led 5-1.
“I think that second period was huge for us,” Davis said. “Wolfy (Dustin Wolf) was making saves, we were breaking out pucks and getting the pucks behind their (defense).”
Riley Sutter added a power-play goal at 7:35 in the third to complete the scoring.
Jared Dmytriw put the Giants on the board when he won a race to the puck along the boards, skated in and waited out Wolf for a quick wrister at 13:35 in the opening period.
“It was a great individual effort by their guy (and) kind of a lackadaisical effort by our (defense),” Williams said. “I thought we just assumed we would get to the puck, and he outworked us and took it to the net and scored. And then I thought it was a bit of a wake-up call for our guys and I thought we put together a good stretch in the second.”
Later in the period, penalties to Vancouver’s Matt Barberis and Everett’s Tips Patrick Bajkov created a 4-on-4 opportunity. Connor Dewar took advantage of the extra space as he buried a rebound of his initial shot at 18:14 to tie the game 1-1.
Wolf saved 28 of Vancouver’s 29 shots.
“As the game went on, I thought he really settled in and made some really good saves,” Williams said. “(He) tracked pucks well, and got into his own zone of how he knows how to play.”
Everett finished 2-for-3 on the power play and held Vancouver scoreless on its three man advantages.
Notes
The Tips return to action Saturday when they head to ShoWare Center for their final regular-season matchup with the Seattle Thunderbirds. … Everett defenseman Gianni Fairbrother returned to the lineup Sunday for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury Dec. 6.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.
Silvertips 6, Giants 1
Everett 1 4 1—6
Vancouver 1 0 0—1
1st Period—1, Vancouver, Dmytriw 15 (Koch), 13:35. 2, Everett, Dewar 36 (Pilon, Wolf), 18:14. Penalties-Skeoch Van (tripping), 0:40; Sharp Evt (tripping), 6:35; Bajkov Evt (roughing), 17:39; Barberis Van (cross checking), 17:39.
2nd Period—3, Everett, Kindopp 20 8:43. 4, Everett, Davis 9 (Fonteyne, Dewar), 12:25. 5, Everett, Pilon 32 15:36 (PS). 6, Everett, Davis 10 19:59 (PP). Penalties-Riddle Van (tripping), 15:36; Koch Van (cross checking), 18:50.
3rd Period—7, Everett, Sutter 25 (Wylie, Richards), 7:35 (PP). Penalties-Pilon Evt (slashing), 0:31; Benson Van (tripping), 5:44; Sutter Evt (tripping), 13:57; Watts Van (embellishment), 13:57; Bajkov Evt (roughing), 16:40.
Shots on Goal—Everett 14-16-7-37. Vancouver 10-6-13-29.
Power Play Opportunities—Everett 2 / 3; Vancouver 0 / 3.
Goalies—Everett, Wolf 13-6-0-0 (29 shots-28 saves). Vancouver, Miner 1-2-0-0 (37 shots-31 saves).
A—3,537
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