EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips were so close to getting something out of Friday night’s game against the Portland Winterhawks they could practically reach out and grasp it. But the final two minutes broke in all the wrong directions for the Tips.
Portland capitalized on an Everett turnover to score the go-ahead goal with just 1 minute, 31 seconds remaining in regulation, the Tips couldn’t convert a penalty shot in the dying seconds, and Everett came away empty after a 4-3 defeat at Comcast Arena.
“It’s a tough one to swallow,” Everett coach Mark Ferner said. “The kids played hard right to the bitter end.”
With Victoria beating Kelowna 3-1 Friday, Everett fell back into eighth place in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference, one point behind Victoria. The Tips just passed Victoria for seventh with a 3-2 victory over the Royals on Wednesday. Everett has a chance to repeat that feat when Victoria returns to town tonight for the Tips’ final home game of the regular season.
Troy Rutkowski scored the game winner for Portland (47-17-3-1), which kept pace with Tri-City in the race for the conference’s top seed — the Winterhawks remained one point behind the Americans. Cam Reid, Chase De Leo and Ty Rattie also scored for the Winterhawks. Mac Carruth made 21 saves in goal for Portland.
Jari Erricson, Josh Caron and Reid Petryk scored for Everett (20-38-1-8), which dug itself out of a 3-1 hole, but still saw its three-game winning streak snapped. Austin Lotz stopped 27 shots in net for the Tips.
The score was tied 3-3 in the third period and it looked as though Everett would hang on for at least a point. But with time winding down, Tips defenseman Dominik Bittner lost control of the puck by the side of the net, with the Winterhawks taking over. Portland kept Everett scrambling until Rutkowski found a shooting lane from the top of the right circle. Rutkowski’s shot through traffic just trickled through Lotz and settled into the corner, giving the Winterhawks the lead.
“We talk about just gaining zones late in the game and identifying who’s on the ice,” Ferner said. “We just didn’t have the ability to get pucks out and be strong with our sticks, and it winds up in the back of our net.”
Everett then had a golden opportunity to tie the game when, with 4.7 seconds remaining, the Winterhawks knocked their own goal over just as Everett’s Cody Fowlie let fly with a shot from the slot. A penalty shot was awarded, but Carruth got a pad on Josh Winquist’s attempt, preserving the victory.
Ferner thought Fowlie’s shot was headed in and that the Tips should perhaps have been awarded a goal outright.
“It’s a tough call by the ref, he said the puck was going wide,” Ferner said. “But as soon as you knock the net off, it’s no different than throwing a stick with an empty net. The ref’s got pretty good eyes to say it was missing the net.”
Portland needed just 1:02 to score the game’s opening goal. Reid took Joe Morrow’s long outlet pass off the boards and charged free on goal. Reid just got the puck under Lotz to give the Winterhawks a 1-0 lead.
Everett tied the game at 6:20. Zach McPhee’s big hit freed the puck up for the Tips down low. Moments later McPhee fed the puck in the slot to Erricson, who one-timed a shot into the top corner to make it 1-1.
The Winterhawks regained the lead with 57.4 seconds remaining in the period, De Leo bouncing a rebound past Lotz from Morrow’s shot from the point to make it 2-1.
Portland increased its lead to two 56 seconds into the second period, Rattie banging in a rebound from William Wrenn’s point shot after the Tips were unable to clear.
But Everett battled back to tie it. Caron scored his first goal of the season at 8:52, one-timing a drop pass from Ryan Harrison through Carruth. Then Petryk tied it on the power play at 11:18, gathering a feed from Winquist in the slot and firing into the top corner.
Slap shots
Everett welcomed overage defenseman Brennan Yadlowski back to the lineup. Yadlowski missed Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over Victoria while attending to a personal matter. … Portland was without star winger Sven Bartschi. Bartschi was an emergency call-up by the NHL’s Calgary Flames because of an injury crisis. Bartschi was Calgary’s first-round pick in last year’s NHL draft. … Among those in attendance Friday was former NHL great Steve Yzerman. Yzerman, now the general manager of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, may be in position to select Tips defenseman Ryan Murray in the upcoming NHL draft.
Winterhawks 4, Silvertips 3
Portland211—4
Everett120—3
First Period—1, Portland, Reid 11 (Morrow, Wrenn), 1:02. 2, Everett, Erricson 6 (McPhee, Hayer), 6:20. 3, Portland, De Leo 14 (Noebels, Morrow), 19:02. Penalties—none.
Second Period—4, Portland, Rattie 54 (Wrenn, Noebels), 0:56. 5, Everett, Caron 1 (Harrison, Bauml), 8:52. 6, Everett, Petryk 17 (Winquist, Yadlowski), 11:18 (pp). Penalties—Hayer, Everett (slashing), 2:12; Wotherspoon, Portland (interference), 10:11; McPhee, Everett (checking to the head), 13:27; Gabriel, Portland (cross checking), 15:33; Petryk, Everett (boarding), 16:13; Reid, Portland (roughing), 18:52; Caron, Everett (roughing), 18:52.
Third Period—7, Portland, Rutkowski 13 (Rattie, Ross), 18:29. Penalties—Winquist, Everett (slashing), 5:15; Peters, Portland (slashing-unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:09; Hayer, Everett (tripping), 14:34; Morrow, Portland (10-minute misconduct), 20:00.
Shots on goal—Portland 14-6-11—31. Everett 7-8-9—24. Power-play opportunities—Portland 0 of 5. Everett 1 of 4.
Goalies—Portland, Carruth 41-15-2-0 (24 shots, 21 saves). Everett, Lotz 2-9-0-2 (31 shots, 27 saves).
A—5,978.
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