Silvertips’ defense falters in 4-1 loss to Edmonton

EDMONTON, Alberta — The Everett Silvertips suffered a rough start to their tour of the WHL’s Central Division.

Everett allowed 50 shots on goal and fell 4-1 to the Edmonton Oil Kings on Wednesday night.

Edmonton put the game away when, while leading 2-1, the Oil Kings scored twice in the first two minutes of the third period to make it a three-goal game. However, given the 50-21 shot discrepancy, it was always unlikely the Tips were going to battle back.

Leegan Lowe, Kristians Pelss, Curtis Lazar and T.J. Foster scored the goals for Edmonton, while Mark Pysyk added three assists.

Tristan Jarry, a 16-year-old making his first career WHL start, earned the win in goal for the Oil Kings (9-3-1-1), stopping 20 shots. The victory was Edmonton’s third straight.

Kohl Bauml scored the lone goal for Everett (3-9-0-2). The goal was Bauml’s first in the WHL. Kent Simpson turned away 46 shots in goal for the Tips.

Before the game, Everett reassigned defenseman Tye Hand to Drumheller of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. The 16-year-old defenseman had not appeared in a game this season. That leaves Everett’s roster at 25 players: 15 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders.

Everett opened the scoring 12 minutes 15 seconds into the game on Bauml’s goal. The Tips took advantage of an Edmonton turnover, and Bauml fired a shot under Jarry to make it 1-0.

But it was all Oil Kings after that. Edmonton tied it at 18:06, Lowe’s shot from the point following a faceoff win beat Simpson to make it 1-1.

The Oil Kings then took the lead on the power play at 13:28 of the second period, Pelss scoring on the rebound off a shot from the point by Martin Gernat. The Tips were fortunate not to fall further behind in the second as they were outshot 22-8.

It was all over early in the third. Lazar put home his own rebound 52 seconds into the period to make it 3-1. Then 51 seconds later Foster scored up high on Simpson during a power play to complete the scoring.

Oil Kings 4, Silvertips 1

Everett 1 0 0—1

Edmonton 1 1 2—4

First Period—1, Everett, Bauml 1 (Dolnik), 12:15. 2, Edmonton, Lowe 1 (Pysyk, Wilson), 18:06. Penalties—Harrison, Everett (roughing-roughing), 13:39; Lowe, Edmonton (roughing), 13:39; Pysyk, Edmonton (roughing), 13:39.

Second Period—3, Edmonton, Pelss 5 (Gernat, Pysyk), 13:28 (pp). Penalties—Grayson, Everett (cross checking), 1:10; Rachinski, Edmonton (roughing), 6:55; Mychan, Everett (tripping), 13:09.

Third Period—4, Edmonton, Lazar 4 (St. Croix, Reinhart), 0:52. 5, Edmonton, Foster 7 (Wruck, Pysyk), 1:43 (pp). Penalties—Dolnik, Everett (hooking), 1:27; McPhee, Everett (fighting), 3:06; Wilson, Edmonton (fighting), 3:06; Maxwell, Everett (fighting), 4:58; Peddle, Edmonton (fighting), 4:58; Pelss, Edmonton (goaltender interference), 6:34; Mychan, Everett (fighting), 8:57; Geertsen, Edmonton (fighting), 8:57; Chynoweth, Everett (hooking), 9:45; Birkholz, Everett (tripping), 10:17; Dech, Edmonton (tripping), 13:24; Henry, Everett (checking from behind), 16:09; Sieben, Edmonton (kneeing), 18:46.

Shots on goal—Everett 8-8-5—21. Edmonton 14-22-14—50. Power-play opportunities—Everett 0 of 4. Edmonton 2 of 6.

Goalies—Everett, Simpson 3-7-0-1 (50 shots, 46 saves). Edmonton, Jarry 1-0-0-0 (21 shots, 20 saves).

A—2,909.