Silvertips end long homestand with win against Seattle

Published 1:10 am Sunday, January 25, 2026

EVERETT — It almost came out of nowhere.

The Everett Silvertips led 2-1 late in the third period against the Seattle Thunderbirds at Angel of the Winds Arena on Saturday. By the time the clock ticked past the 13-minute mark of the third period, Everett had dominated everywhere but the scoreline. Barely ceding puck possession at even strength and peppering Seattle goalie Grayson Malinoski with shots, the Silvertips held a staggering 45-17 shots on goal advantage.

But in a rare offensive zone possession for the Thunderbirds, defenseman Vanek Popil flung the puck on net from the right point, where it bounced off Everett goalie Anders Miller’s pad and out to Seattle forward Sawyer Mayes, who instantly popped the rebound under the crossbar to score at 13:18 of the third period. A game that should have been well in hand for the Silvertips was tied 2-2 with under seven minutes left in regulation.

Malinoski had proven tough to crack despite Everett’s superior play, so the idea of the Thunderbirds stealing at least a point by forcing the game to overtime was not out of the question.

Until 15 seconds later.

That’s how long it took for Zachary Shantz to set up Jesse Heslop from behind the Seattle net following the center-ice faceoff, with Heslop potting the goal at 13:33 of the third to set up a 3-2 win for Everett.

“It was just sticking with our game,” Heslop said. “We dominated that. It should have been more than 1-1 going into the third, and we weren’t nervous or worried at all. … We didn’t shake a bit. We knew we had it all night.”

The victory marked the Silvertips’ fourth straight, and improved the team’s WHL-best record to 36-6-2-1, a clear 12 points ahead of Penticton in the Western Conference.

“All year, we’ve talked about the regular season is opportunities to solve your own problems,” Everett coach Steve Hamilton said. “We’re in a situation where we’re heavily outshooting a team, and we got to solve the problem. The problem was getting one more past their goaltender, so I think that’s been really characteristic of our team throughout the year, has just been the ability to kind of stay on things and have a steady hand on the wheel, even when times look— I mean, they respond back to get it to 2-2, and we respond right away. That’s a really good sign. We kind of have an unflappable personality.”

Even before Heslop’s game-winner, Seattle put itself in position to wrestle a standings point away from the Silvertips to start off the game’s scoring, albeit with plenty of time left. Just 5:46 into the first period, Silvertips defenseman Mattias Uyeda sent a pass out from behind Everett’s goal line, which bounced off Simon Lovsin’s skate and straight to Ethan Bibeau on the inside edge of the left circle. Bibeau sent a simple cross-slot pass to Mayes, who one-timed it past Miller to give the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead on just their second shot of the game.

The Everett offensive zone presence didn’t skip a beat, with the top line of Matias Vanhanen, Julius Miettinen and Carter Bear as well as the top defensive pair of Tarin Smith and Landon DuPont tilting the ice and creating chance after chance on their shifts, but to no avail.

Instead, it was the same line that was on the ice for Seattle’s goal that would level things at 13:03 of the first period. With Lukas Kaplan and Nolan Chastko fighting for the puck behind Seattle’s net, Chastko eventually made his way out with the puck and sent it to Jaxsin Vaughan in the high slot, where he unleashed a one-timer through traffic to put the Silvertips on the board.

“We were on for (the first goal). It’s kind of just a tough break,” Vaughan said. “One mistake, and that kind of stuff happens. And I think we were way better than them leading up to that point anyway, so we didn’t change much and kept working. A couple good passes, and it was in the back of the net. Good screen from Kaplan there.”

Everett continued to dominate play in the second period, allowing just one Thunderbirds shot on goal in the first 10 minutes of the period while putting up 11 of their own, but they entered the second intermission with the score still tied 1-1. Rather than get frustrated, the team remained focused on continuing its play and trying to find a winning goal in the final 20 minutes.

“We just played fast. We really didn’t want to be on our heels,” Vaughan said. “We wanted to be on our toes. I think we did that a lot. We moved pucks, especially in transition, and got them forward. And then got on the forecheck and forced them to make bad plays and rims and stuff like that.”

Finally, the top line broke through at 3:45 of the third period, with Miettinen settling in the slot and one-timing a pass from Vanhanen, who sent it out from behind the net.

“We had them against (Seattle’s) top line with the hopes that their top line would have to spend some time in the D-zone,” Hamilton said. “I thought they were excellent in controlling the puck and just applying pressure over and over again. They had some really good looks. (Miettinen) got a great goal there. It certainly felt like (they) probably could have had a couple more, and I think that line just has an incredible chemistry together.”

The Silvertips appeared to score again at 6:28, when Bear teed up Uyeda for a one-timer as the defenseman drifted into play from the neutral zone, but official review determined the puck hit off the crossbar and out as opposed to the back of the net and out, and the score remained 2-1 until Mayes tied things up with his second goal of the night.

Once Heslop pulled Everett back ahead at 13:33, Miller had to make a couple big saves down the stretch as the Thunderbirds tried to tie it up again, securing a high glove save at 15:08 before kicking out what would have been a sure goal with just over a minute left while the Silvertips were killing off a penalty.

Across its six-game homestand, Everett went 5-1-0-0, winning in each game in different fashion as the team approaches the final third of the regular season.

“I think we got the closest group in the league,” Heslop said. “I mean, our locker room is super tight, and you can see that on the ice. There’s no shake in our group, and everyone’s super connected out there.”