KAMLOOPS, British Columbia — Dustin Wolf waited a long time to make his Everett Silvertips debut.
The rookie goaltender was superb in his first Western Hockey League game as he turned aside 38 of 39 shots in a 3-1 Everett win over the Kamloops Blazers before 3,275 fans at Sandman Centre on Friday.
Connor Dewar scored a pair of power-play goals to guide the Everett offense, but it was Wolf’s night as the goaltender threw in an assist on Dewar’s first goal for good measure.
The Tips (5-9-1, 11 points) snapped a four-game losing streak. Kamloops fell to 3-11.
Wolf was a fifth-round pick by Everett in the 2016 bantam draft, and the 16-year-old American is a highly regarded prospect.
However, Wolf underwent offseason surgery on both of his hips and only returned to full practice two weeks ago. It wasn’t a moment too soon as Carter Hart continues to be day-to-day as he recovers from mononucleosis.
Hart was scratched Friday with Dorrin Luding serving as the backup. Wolf became the sixth different goaltender to see action for Everett this season.
Everett led 3-1 through two periods and killed a four-minute minor penalty in a scoreless third period.
Dewar’s first power-play goal at 16:12 in the first period came on a wrister through traffic and gave Everett a 1-0 lead. Wolf got the play started with a long clearing pass to Patrick Bajkov, who then set up Dewar with a stretch pass for the goal.
Dewar then opened the second period with his second power-play goal at 1:58 on a rebound as Everett pushed its lead to 2-0. It was Dewar’s fourth power-play goal in the past two games.
Bryce Kindopp’s fourth goal of the year came at 5:47 in the second to stretch Everett’s lead to 3-0.
However, Ondrej Vala’s point shot through traffic put the Blazers on the board at 16:19 and broke up Wolf’s shutout bid.
That was the only goal Wolf allowed.
Kamloops goalie Dylan Ferguson finished with 23 saves on 26 shots. The Tips were 2-for-5 on the power play.
Dewar added an assist for a three-point night. The 18-year-old forward from Manitoba leads the Tips with nine goals. That includes four in the past two games and the team’s only hat trick so far this season.
Riley Sutter added two assists for Everett.
The Tips play at Portland at 5 p.m. Sunday.
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