EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips have shown they know how to win the close, low-scoring games.
Saturday night they showed they can win a shootout, too.
Everett matched a franchise record by scoring six goals as the Silvertips defeated the Portland Winter Hawks 6-3 in a Western Hockey League game before an enthusiastic crowd of 8,101 at the Everett Events Center.
“I guess we were due a little bit,” Everett defenseman Mitch Love said. “We’ve been in a lot of one-goal games and it feels kind of weird to be winning by more than one goal. But we’ll take those, as long as we get the two points.
Love, John Dahl, Barry Horman, Ivan Baranka, Jeff Schmidt and Chad Bassen scored goals for Everett (20-17-7-1), which beat Portland for the third time in eight days.
“I thought we played really good tonight,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “The other two times we beat them we had to come back in the third period in games that I didn’t think we had played that well. Tonight was by far the best we’ve played in these three games and yet it was close the whole way through. We’ve just gotten some bounces and found ways to win.”
Brandon Dubinsky, Dan Da Silva and Robin Big Snake scored for Portland (19-20-4-1), which has lost five straight.
Everett broke out offensively in just about every way imaginable. The Tips scored twice on the power play after going 0-for-their-last-30. And Everett hadn’t scored more than four goals in a game since beating Lethbridge 5-0 on Nov. 7.
“It was great,” Horman said. “It was awesome to put that many pucks in the net. That hasn’t happened a lot for us, but we had a lot of contributors.”
And it was a refreshing change from Friday’s game, when Everett also played well offensively but was unable to beat Tri-City goalie Carey Price in a 2-0 loss.
“It’s fun to see pucks go in finally,” Constantine said. “We pretty consistently get our fair share of scoring chances. You saw last night where pucks don’t go in and tonight they went in. It’s a tale of two cities.”
In a game that was back and forth throughout, the key came at the beginning of the third period. Portland had scored with 15.3 seconds remaining in the second period to cut Everett’s lead to 4-3 and it appeared that the Winter Hawks had the momentum heading into the third.
However, the Silvertips absorbed Portland’s pressure early in the third, then restored their two-goal advantage – fittingly – on the power play. Love shot from the center point and Schmidt deflected the shot off Portland goalie Krister Toews’ pad into the net to make it 5-3 at 2 minutes, 48 seconds of the period.
“We came into the dressing room (between the second and third periods) a little down, and they obviously went into their dressing room with a little bit of momentum,” Love said. “But we regrouped, and we had a strong (third period) against Portland in their building so we knew we could get a few goals. We played off the big crowd tonight and got the job done.”
Bassen put the game away with an empty-net goal with 34.9 seconds remaining.
Everett goalie Jeff Harvey, making his eighth straight start, made 24 saves in goal for the Tips.
Turnovers were the story in the first period as bad giveaways in the defensive zone led first to Dubinsky’s goal for Portland at 7:33, then to Everett goals from Love and Dahl at 9:52 and 11:53, respectively.
That was followed by a wild second period that included four goals and 12 penalties. Da Silva tied it at 9:58 with a power-play goal. Everett responded by again scoring twice in a short span, Horman and Baranka each beating Toews from long distance at 15:37 and 16:39. Big Snake then scored on a rebound at 19:45 to make it 4-3.
Slap shots: Everett right wing Torrie Wheat returned to the lineup Saturday for the first time in two weeks. The 18-year-old Wheat, who’s been one of Everett’s best defensive forwards, missed the previous five games with a shoulder injury. … Portland had its leading scorer Da Silva back in the lineup Saturday. Da Silva missed both games between the Silvertips and the Winter Hawks last weekend because of a rib injury.
First Period-1, Portland, Dubinsky 19 (Da Silva), 7:33. 2, Everett, Love 6, 9:52. 3, Everett, Dahl 17 (Wheat), 11:53. Second Period-4, Portland, Da Silva 22 (Regehr, Dubinsky), 9:58 (pp). 5, Everett, Horman 11 (Armstrong, Baranka), 15:37 (pp). 6, Everett, Baranka 2 (Ruzicka), 16:39. 7, Portland, Big Snake 10 (Dubinsky, Regehr), 19:45. Third Period-8, Everett, Schmidt 4 (Love, Nathe), 2:48 (pp). 9, Everett, Bassen 11 (Armstrong), 19:26 (en). Shots on goal-Portland 3-15-9-27. Everett 13-7-7-27. Power-play opportunities-Portland 1 of 3. Everett 2 of 6. Goalies-Portland, Toews 15-18-4 (26 shots, 21 saves). Everett, Harvey 16-11-5 (27 shots, 24 saves). |
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
