EVERETT — Lane Bauer and Aaron Irving were two of the biggest names moved at this year’s Western Hockey League trade deadline as the Edmonton Oil Kings shipped both to teams looking to add depth for the second half of the season and the postseason.
Irving, of course, wound up with the Everett Silvertips. Bauer went to the Kamloops Blazers, and on Sunday it was Bauer who got the best of his former teammate in a 5-1 Blazers win before 4,089 fans at Xfinity Arena.
“He’s probably one of my best friends that I made throughout my hockey career so it’s fun to play against him,” Bauer said. “I know he’s extra hard on me when he’s out there, but it’s all fun and games.”
Bauer scored the game-winning goal on the first shift of the second period, coming just 14 seconds after Connor Dewar had tied the game for the Tips. Bauer later added a short-handed goal that essentially sealed the win for the Blazers (31-17-1-2, 65 points), who have won six of their past seven games.
“These guys are very disciplined in their system, so it makes it tough to play, but you have to figure out how to crack that,” Bauer said of the Silvertips. “Bang bodies, push the puck in deep, shoot pucks from everywhere and try to wear them a bit.”
It worked Sunday for Kamloops as the Silvertips (30-9-7-2, 69 points) dropped their fourth straight game.
Everett out-shot the Blazers 38-29 and had ample opportunities to strike first. Instead it was the Blazers who scored first when Garrett Pilon brought the puck down low, then found a trailing Deven Sideroff, who flicked a wrister from the slot past Everett goalie Mario Petit for a 1-0 lead at 10:34 in the opening period.
“I saw us being the team that had all the scoring chances at the beginning of the game and then the puck went in our net,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “They’re a good team, no disrespect, but we had all the scoring chances.”
Blazers goaltender Dylan Ferguson stopped 37 of Everett’s 38 shots as he started in place of regular netminder Connor Ingram. Everett also started its backup in Petit, but he was pulled less than four minutes into the second period after allowing two goals on Kamloops’ first four shots in the second period.
“Their goaltender was way better than ours,” Constantine said. “The first few chances they had went in the net. You gotta change the momentum for the team and get a better effort by the goalies. Our goalies have been great for us this year. They weren’t very good tonight.”
Kamloops took a 1-o lead after one period, but Dewar injected life into the Silvertips and the Xfinity Arena crowd when he carried the puck in from the left wing and snuck it past Ferguson to tie the game 1-1 just 11 seconds into the second period.
That life was short-lived. On the very next shift, Bauer’s shot from the slot gave the Blazers a lead they didn’t relinquish.
“I think that was huge,” Bauer said. “It couldn’t have come a better time because they had just scored and they were going to get some momentum.”
Nick Chyzowski pushed the lead to 3-1 when he potted a rebound of Pilon’s shot and Petit was yanked for Carter Hart.
Even an Everett power play less than a minute later backfired as Dominic Zwerger fell down with possession of the puck at the point, leading to a short-handed rush the other way. Bauer added his second goal of the game when he beat Hart from the left circle to increase the Kamloops advantage to 4-1 at 4:54 in the second.
It remained 4-1 until the Tips sent six skaters onto the ice and pulled Hart following the media timeout midway through the third. Everett had several quality chances, but Kamloops ultimately secured the puck and Quinn Benjafield’s empty-netter pushed it to 5-1 at 11:37.
The Tips played without defensemen Noah Juulsen and Lucas Skrumeda because of lower body injuries, and Riley Sutter (illness) and Dawson Butt also were scratched.
Brian King returned after missing the past two games and skated on the third line with Orrin Centazzo and Cal Babych, who the Tips called up earlier in the day from the Coquitlam Express of the BCHL.
Blazers 5, Silvertips 1
Kamloops 1 3 1—5
Everett 0 1 0—1
First Period—1, Kamloops, Sideroff 28 (Pilon), 10:34. Penalties-Kneen Kam (tripping), 13:46.
Second Period—2, Everett, Dewar 10 (Skoleski), 0:11. 3, Kamloops, Bauer 28 (Valentine), 0:25. 4, Kamloops, Chyzowski 14 (Pilon), 3:54. 5, Kamloops, Bauer 29 (Shirley), 4:52 (SH). Penalties-Smith Kam (unsportsmanlike cnd., major-fighting), 4:19; Onyebuchi Evt (major-fighting), 4:19; Bauer Kam (hooking), 13:06.
Third Period—6, Kamloops, Benjafield 11 (Vala, Loewen), 11:37 (EN). Penalties-Richards Evt (interference), 7:29; Smith Kam (hooking), 12:28; Onyebuchi Evt (tripping), 17:58.
Shots on Goal—Kamloops 13-7-9-29. Everett 16-13-9-38.
Power Play Opportunities—Kamloops 0/2; Everett 0/4.
Goalies—Kamloops, Ferguson 13-8-0-2 (38 shots-37 saves). Everett, Petit 10-3-2-1 (17 shots-14 saves); Hart 19-6-5-1 (11 shots-10 saves).
A—4,089
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