PORTLAND, Ore. – The Everett Silvertips were the beneficiaries of a little help Saturday night.
Everett took advantage of a pair of soft goals in the third period, and the Silvertips defeated the Portland Winter Hawks 5-2.
Ondrej Fiala and John Lammers both saw speculative shots from a distance find a way through Portland goaltender Luke Shier’s defense, helping Everett break a 2-2 tie.
Shane Harper and Damir Alic also scored, Brennan Sonne added an empty-net goal and Cody Thoring had three assists for Everett (30-19-2-1), which bounced back from being shut out in its previous two games.
Everett’s power play also returned to form, converting three of five chances after going 0-for-15 the previous two games. It was Everett’s No. 2 power-play unit that did most of the damage, with Harper and Alic each netting power-play tallies.
Leland Irving made 23 saves in goal for Everett to earn his 36th career win, setting a new franchise record for wins by a goalie.
Nick Hotson and Brian Woolger scored for Portland (21-25-3-2), which lost its eighth straight. Shier finished with 15 saves.
Everett appeared to be on the ropes early in the third period when Woolger scored a power-play goal 1 minute, 14 seconds in to tie it at 2-2, then Everett coach Kevin Constantine was given an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty immediately after to put the Winter Hawks back on the power play.
However, the Tips killed off the penalty and seconds later, Fiala beat a defender at the blue line and fired a shot that Shier missed, restoring Everett’s lead at 3:26.
It was a similar goal that gave Everett some breathing room at 13:30. The Tips were going for a line change while on the power play, with Lammers just throwing the puck toward net. However the shot got through Shier and into the net to make it 4-2.
Those two goals canceled out Portland’s first goal, on which Hotson scored on a shot that Irving should have saved.
Everett captain Torrie Wheat, who struggled through Friday’s 2-0 loss at Tri-City, sat out Saturday with his bruised foot.
Silvertips 5, Winter Hawks 2
Everett203-5
Portland011-2
First Period-1, Everett, Harper 5 (Harty, Thoring), 6:15 (pp). 2, Everett, Alic 3 (Kress, Thoring), 17:37 (pp). Penalties-Bailey, Portland (major-kneeing-game misconduct), 3:45; Gordichuk, Portland (high sticking), 4:42; Alic, Everett (diving), 5:18, Heshka, Everett (holding), 11:41; Gordichuk, Portland (holding), 15:38.
Second Period-3, Portland, Hotson 7 (Sauer, Funk), 0:17. Penalties-Fransoo, Everett (slashing), 4:27; Balan, Portland (roughing), 15:06.
Third Period-4, Portland, Woolger 22 (Sauer, Hansen), 1:14 (pp). 5, Everett, Fiala 11, 3:26. 6, Everett, Lammers 27 (Thoring), 13:30 (pp). 7, Everett, Sonne 2, 19:42 (en). Penalties-Lammers, Everett (diving), 0:12; Everett bench (unsportsmanlike conduct, served by Milhouse), 1:14; McLaren, Portland (cross-checking), 12:17, Dailey, Everett (playing without helmet), 16:04; Gazdik, Portland (elbowing), 20:00.
Shots on goal-Everett 9-4-7-20. Portland 6-14-5-25. Power-play opportunities-Everett 3 of 5. Portland 1 of 5.
Goalies-Everett, Irving 27-17-1-1 (25 shots, 23 saves). Portland, Shier 4-8-1-0 (19 shots, 15 saves).
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