EVERETT — With about 20 seconds remaining in overtime, Silvertips head coach Dennis Williams turned to Bryce Kindopp on the bench and inquired to his assistant captain, “Can you give me 15 or 20 more seconds.”
“He looked at me and I was like, ‘I can’t feel my legs right now. Give me a couple seconds,’ ” Kindopp said.
Kindopp, hunched over and sucking wind, obliged, galloped over the boards and scored with 0.4 seconds remaining in the extra period, allowing Everett to defeat archrival Seattle, 1-0, at Angel of the Winds Arena on Saturday night.
“He did was Bryce does best, he goes right to the net,” Williams said. “A little bit of puck luck with the ricochet through. That’s what happens when you play the game honest and go to the right areas. It was real good for him.”
Silvertips postgame comments after 1-0 OT win over Seattle from Everett Herald on Vimeo.
Connor Dewar fired a shot from the slot to generate a rebound chance and Kindopp secured the puck, skated to his right and slid the puck into Seattle’s net, with Ross on his stomach after attempting to make the initial save. Artyom Minulin was credited with the secondary assist.
“(I was) just going to the net and you just kind of blackout after,” Kindopp said. “I think I got a lucky bounce, I don’t remember much of it to be honest.”
The crowd erupted and Everett’s bench poured out to the corner near the zamboni entrance and mobbed Kindopp, who potted his 10th game-winning goal of the season and his second in as many games.
“That was probably the loudest I’ve heard (the crowd) in my two years here with that 0.4 seconds left,” Williams said. “Great for them for coming to cheer us on and give us that extra boost.”
Both teams just missed on promising chances, most notably Dewar drawing iron on a shot from the right circle with about three minutes in regulation
Kindopp had a chance to end the game earlier in overtime with about 2:30 remaining, as he forced a neatral zone turnover en route to a breakaway opportunity. Seattle’s Nolan Volcan skated back to thwart it right in front of the Thunderbirds’ net, but the Silvertips’ crowd was lobbying for a penalty shot.
“I’d have to watch it,” Williams said. “They kind of put the whistles away, and that’s what you’re going to see in playoffs, maybe three or four power plays each. You work through your chances. I’m sure you could argue it either way, on either side. But a really nice play by Bryce to check it and one heckuva a backcheck by Volcan because he flew right back there pretty hard.”
Everett led shots on goal after three periods, 39-29.
Wolf recorded his seventh shutout of the season with 32 saves.
Looking on as Everett was peppering its final chances on Seattle goaltender Roddy Ross, Wolf was clamoring for a goal. His team delivered and allowed him to join the celebration on the other end of the ice rather than gear up for a shootout.
“Going through my mind was just score. Obviously we haven’t had the best luck in shootouts this year,” said Wolf, who is 1-2 in shootouts this season. “If it had gone to that I would have given my best effort, but like the last few games we were able to get the last goal over the last couple seconds there. I think that’s the type of group we are; We fight until the last buzzer.”
Ross stopped 40-of-41 shots for Seattle.
Both teams were effective on the penalty kill, with each team killing all four penalties it took, allowing a scoreless game to go into overtime.
“It was another good hockey game,” Williams said. “This time of year, there are a lot of good opponents and they’re a good hockey team over there. They worked hard and competed. It was right down to the wire at the end and a heckuva play there at the end. I’m real proud of the guys. I thought it was two good wins this weekend for us.”
Next up
The Silvertips take on the Spokane Chiefs on Tuesday at the Spokane Arena in what will be the final regular-season matchup between the two teams.
Scoreboard watching
—Vancouver remains two points back with a game-in-hand on Everett after its 5-4 win over Kamloops.
—The magic number for the Silvertips to clinch the U.S. Division regular season title is now three. Portland, who is 10 points behind Everett with six games remaining, won 2-1 over Kelowna in overtime.
Notes
—The Silvertips’ win on Friday clinched Everett home ice for the first round of the WHL playoffs.
—Kindopp is now tied atop the league lead in game-winning goals with Moose Jaw’s Brayden Tracey and Tristin Langan.
—Wolf secured his 11th career shutout on Friday, passing Austin Lotz for fourth on the franchise’s all-time shutout leaderboard.
—The shutout was also Wolf’s seventh of the season, tying him with Carter Hart (2017-2018) for the fourth most in a single season in Everett’s history. Leland Irving holds the record with 11 in 2006-2007.
Josh Horton covers the Everett Silvertips and AquaSox for The Everett Daily Herald. Follow him on Twitter (@joshhortonEDH) or reach out to him over email (jhorton@heraldnet.com).
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