EVERETT — Fans of the Everett Silvertips and Seattle Thunderbirds have to be hoping Saturday night’s game is a harbinger of the excitement that awaits as the second half plays out in the U.S. Division this season.
Seattle forward Keegan Kolesar took advantage of a bad Silvertips change to score the game-winner as the Thunderbirds prevailed 4-3 in overtime before a raucous, sell-out crowd of 8,249 for “Local Heroes Night” at Xfinity Arena. It was the second time in eight days the T-Birds and Tips have needed overtime or a shootout to decide the outcome.
“The atmosphere is great,” said Everett forward Matt Fonteyne, whose goal at 17:23 in the third eventually forced overtime. “It was kind of like a playoff atmosphere and it’s really fun to play in front of.”
The game also featured the Everett return of Silvertips goalie Carter Hart and defenseman Noah Juulsen, and Seattle’s Mathew Barzal from the World Junior Championship.
“The two teams have never really played each other fresh and with all their bodies, so I still don’t know about the series other than they’re always close and it’s our rivalry series,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “I don’t know that the series yet has had both teams rested and playing against each other. We play them a ton coming up, so somewhere along the way that might happen. But it’s been a little different feel to the series based on unusual circumstances that both teams have been in.”
Like last Saturday in Kent, when Kolesar scored the shootout winner, the division-leading Silvertips (27-5-7-1, 62 points) earned a point by forcing overtime.
Seattle (22-14-3-1, 48 points) moved one point closer, but missed an opportunity to make up more ground when Fonteyne’s shot from the left circle hit a Seattle defenseman and deflected past Rylan Toth at 17:23 in the third.
That answered Barzal’s go-ahead goal that came two minutes earlier when he redirected a Ryan Gropp pass through Hart’s legs for a 3-2 lead.
The Tips struggled mightily in overtime and never gained possession in the Seattle zone. They appeared poised to force a shootout, but a poor line change gave Kolesar a breakaway chance with 15.9 seconds to go.
“You can’t control any of that,” said Hart, who stopped Seattle’s first seven shots in overtime. “You just have to worry about stopping the puck and obviously I didn’t on the last one.”
The Tips were playing their third game in four days and arrived home in the wee hours of Saturday morning. It doesn’t get any easier as they play host to Kelowna at 2:05 p.m. on Monday before returning to Kent on Tuesday.
“I think that based on a very competitive game (Friday) night and a bizarre travel schedule that our guys (did) a pretty good job under the circumstances too,” Constantine said. “That’s always tough to go three games in four nights, back-to-back nights.”
Following a scoreless opening period, the Silvertips appeared to take a 1-0 lead just 1:08 into the second on Kevin Davis’s one-time rocket from the left circle. But the officials ruled that Eetu Tuulola was in the crease and interfered to negate the goal.
The Thunderbirds then took a quick 2-0 lead in a span of just 24 seconds in nearly identical fashion as both came in scrums in front of the net.
Ethan Bear converted first at 9:22 and the goal was upheld after a brief review. Then, while the public address announcer was still calling out the goal, Donovan Neuls converted in a another net-front scrum at 9:46 to push Seattle’s lead to 2-0.
But the Silvertips answered in nearly as lightening-quick fashion. Connor Dewar flicked a feed from Devon Skoleski past Toth on the rush at 10:07. Then Tuulola tied with a one-timer from the right circle after an Everett faceoff win at 12:26.
A slight brouhaha broke out two minutes later as Seattle’s Austin Strand and Everett’s Montana Onyebuchi traded punches, each earning a five-minute penalty for fighting. Everett later earned a power play when Matthew Wedman went to the box for slashing, but the Tips came up empty and the teams went into the second intermission tied 2-2.
Hart finished with 34 saves while Toth had 28.
Thunderbirds 4, Silvertips 3 (OT)
Seattle 0 2 1 1 – 4
Everett 0 2 1 0 – 3
1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Tyszka Sea (holding), 4:00.
2nd Period-1, Seattle, Bear 12 (Wedman, Neuls), 8:22. 2, Seattle, True 11 (Wedman, Tyszka), 8:46. 3, Everett, Dewar 7 (Skoleski, Kindopp), 10:07. 4, Everett, Tuulola 11 (Onyebuchi, Sutter), 12:20. Penalties-Strand Sea (major-fighting), 14:28; Onyebuchi Evt (major-fighting), 14:28; Wedman Sea (slashing), 15:40.
3rd Period-5, Seattle, Barzal 3 (Gropp), 15:32. 6, Everett, Fonteyne 13 (Bajkov, Wylie), 17:23. Penalties-Bajkov Evt (tripping), 0:36; Strand Sea (cross checking), 7:59.
OT Period-7, Seattle, Kolesar 7 (Bear, Barzal), 4:44. Penalties-No Penalties
Shots on Goal-Seattle 8-13-9-8-38. Everett 8-13-10-0-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Seattle 0 / 1; Everett 0 / 3.
Goalies-Seattle, Toth 18-14-1-0 (31 shots-28 saves). Everett, Hart 17-3-5-0 (38 shots-34 saves).
A-8,249
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