EVERETT — Generally a power play is supposed to work to the advantage of the team with the extra man on the ice.
The reverse was true Wednesday at Xfinity Arena, where three of the five goals scored came of the short-handed variety as the Tri-City Americans defeated the Everett Silvertips 4-1 before 3,233 fans.
Tri-City (11-16-1-0, 23 points) utilized two short-handed goals to defeat the Silvertips for the first time in two meetings this season.
“We’re both high pressure teams on the penalty kill, so we really can attribute it to that,” said Everett forward Brian King, who scored the Silvertips’ lone goal — also coming short-handed. “We’ve got to clean up our puck management on our power play.”
Everett (14-8-0-2, 30 points) squandered an opportunity to move into second place in the U.S. Division standings. Everett remains one point behind idle Spokane though the Tips still have three games in hand of the Chiefs.
The Silvertips also saw their three-game winning streak snapped in their first home loss since a 2-1 defeat to Portland on Oct. 30. Wednesday’s defeat also came against a Tri-City team the Tips defeated 5-0 at Xfinity Arena on the night before Thanksgiving.
“I thought the first 10 minutes a week ago against (Tri-City) was kinda blah, and tonight I thought the first 10 minutes was kind of blah,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “But in that game a week ago we kind of kept coming, and by the end of the first period we had done a good job to get chances and shots and scored a couple goals. But that never really came tonight.”
Tri-City led 2-0 when consecutive short-handed goals pushed the game out of the Silvertips’ grasp.
The first came at the tail end of the second period as Michael Rasmussen took the puck down the slot in a two-one-one situation before passing to Juuso Valimaki on the left side of the crease. Valimaki shot past Everett goaltender Carter Hart for the 3-0 lead at 18:30.
The second came from Beau McCue off a pass from Brandon Carlo at 3:24 in the third in another two-on-one Everett struggled to defend. That gave the Americans a 4-0 lead and Hart yielded for backup Mario Petit.
“We had some turnovers that created the two-on-ones and we didn’t do a very good job playing the two-on-ones,” Constantine said. “A two-on-one against you should turn into a bad-angle shot. We turned a couple of the two-on-ones into breakaways.”
King completed scoring with his second goal of the season on a rebound off Tri-City goaltender Evan Sarthou with an assist from Connor Dewar at 11:43 in the third.
The game also saw the end of Silvertip Remi Laurencelle’s point streak at nine games and the debut of recently acquired defenseman Brycen Martin. Everett traded for the he 6-foot-2, 200-pound Martin on Monday, and he skated his first practice Tuesday before being thrown right into action in Wednesday’s game.
“My legs felt good and I felt like I started to get a lot of the systems throughout the game, and I think (Constantine) noticed that,” Martin said. “I got a little bit of power play time today which is always good. That’s where I’m comfortable. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s a good start.”
The Americans struck first when Silvertips deflected a shot from the point directly to a waiting Parker AuCoin who faced a wide-open right side of the net. AuCoin sent the carom past Hart for a 1-0 lead at 12:53 in the first.
Rasmussen found Dylan Coghlan in the high slot, and Coghlan fired past a screened Hart to push the lead to 2-0 at 8:22 in the second.
The Silvertips finished with a 24-20 shot advantage though Sarthou turned aside 23 of them.
Everett returns to Xfinity Arena at 7:35 p.m. Friday when it plays host to Prince George.
Americans 4, Silvertips 1
Tri-City 1 2 1 — 4
Everett 0 0 1 — 1
1st Period—1, Tri-City, AuCoin 3 (Roy, Wotherspoon), 12:53. Penalties—Topping T.c (roughing), 18:32; Juulsen Evt (roughing), 18:32; Ralph Evt (boarding), 18:32.
2nd Period—2, Tri-City, Coghlan 1 (Rasmussen, Wotherspoon), 8:22. 3, Tri-City, Valimaki 4 (Rasmussen), 18:30 (SH). Penalties—James T.c (interference), 4:00; Wotherspoon T.c (holding), 13:30; Topping T.c (interference), 16:57.
3rd Period—4, Tri-City, McCue 9 (Carlo), 3:24 (SH). 5, Everett, King 2 (Dewar), 11:23 (SH). Penalties—Rutledge T.c (boarding), 2:50; Skoleski Evt (high sticking), 10:22; Coghlan T.c (interference), 14:52; Lukin T.c (high sticking), 17:44; Carlo T.c (cross checking), 18:13; Stadnyk Evt (embellishment), 18:13.
Shots on Goal—Tri-City 9-5-6-20. Everett 3-9-12-24.
Power Play Opportunities—Tri-City 0 / 2; Everett 0 / 6.
Goalies—Tri-City, Sarthou 10-15-1-0 (24 shots-23 saves). Everett, Hart 14-7-0-2 (16 shots-12 saves); Petit 0-1-0-0 (4 shots-4 saves).
A—3,233
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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