EVERETT — Friday night at Xfinity Arena was an evening that doesn’t come around frequently in the Western Hockey League.
It was a chance for the leaders of the Eastern and Western Conferences to square off in the regular season as the Medicine Hat Tigers visited the Everett Silvertips for the only meeting this season.
When it was over, the Western Conference-leading Silvertips could officially lay claim to the top spot in the league as they held on for a 4-3 win over the Tigers before 4,387 fans.
“No wonder they’ve won 10 in a row and they’re the top team in the league,” Everett forward Matt Fonteyne said. “It was fun to play against them, it’s fun to play a team like that. It really challenges all aspects of your game and they’re going to be a good team and have a long run this year.”
Patrick Bajkov scored three goals and finished with four points as the Tips (20-3-4-0, 40 points) became one of WHL teams with 20 wins in their fifth straight victory. Medicine Hat fell to 21-6-1-0 with 43 points.
Bajkov’s hat trick was the first for an Everett player this season and the first of his WHL career.
“It’s a pretty cool feeling for sure – pretty surreal,” Bajkov said. “And then obviously you can’t be thinking about it too long because you have the rest of the game to play. So I think I handled it pretty good.”
One Everett casualty on the evening was goaltender Carter Hart’s scoreless streak. The Tigers snapped Hart’s streak at 193 minutes, 48 seconds when Steven Owre skated out from behind the net and roofed a shot from the left circle past Hart’s left blocker at 6:47 in the first period to give Medicine Hat a 1-0 lead.
Hart, the reigning CHL Goaltender of the Week and WHL Goaltender of the Week and Month, had recorded three consecutive shutouts entering Friday’s game.
Bajkov then scored three times in the second period and Kevin Davis added a goal in the frame as the Tips turned a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead through two stanzas.
But the Tigers are second in the WHL in scoring and showed why in the final period. Brad Forrest scored from the right circle at 4:34, and John Dahlstrom’s one-timer from the slot at 8:24 moved the Tigers within a goal at 4-3.
The Tips held the Tigers off the scoreboard the rest of the way including a key penalty kill at 10:29 to hang on for the victory.
“I thought we settled down a little bit after that,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “I thought we gained a bit of confidence from that kill. That was a very very important time and the guys went out and did a good job killing it.”
Bajkov had tied it at 6:17 in the second when he skated in from the right boards and into the high slot before burying a snap shot past Nick Schneider. The public address announcer didn’t even have time to finish announcing Bajkov’s first goal when he added another with a wrister from the left circle at 6:32 to give the Tips the 2-1 lead.
Everett’s star winger then completed the hat trick at 10:44 with a shot from the top of the left circle to make it 3-1.
It was shortly after Bajkov’s third goal that things got chippy. A line brawl erupted after Noah Juulsen checked a Medicine Hat player into the wall. Medicine Hat’s Zach Fischer punched Everett’s Matt Fonteyne and was issued a game misconduct and ejected. Juulsen, Skrumeda and Medicine Hat captain Clayton Kirichenko all went to the box.
“The next thing I knew everyone was coming in flying,” Juulsen said. “So it just kind of happens as the game goes on.”
The Tips tallied once on the ensuing five-minute power play as Davis found the net from the high slot and Everett led 4-1 at 13:12.
Then came Medicine Hat’s two quick goals as the game tightened.
“We knew that they had the ability to come back,” Constantine said. “I don’t think we wanted to let them back in it, but it happened. The good news out of that is that we stayed reasonably composed. Of course you get a little nervous and a little antsy, but I thought we kind of hung in there mentally and we had a good last 10 minutes of the game.”
Everett returns to action Dec. 7 at home against Tri-City.
Silvertips 4, Tigers 3
Medicine Hat 1 0 2 — 3
Everett 0 4 0 — 4
1st Period—1, Medicine Hat, Owre 8 (Butcher), 6:47. Penalties—Gally Mh (interference), 6:18; Sutter Evt (tripping), 6:32; Chyzowski Mh (boarding), 13:03; Forrest Mh (delay of game), 19:50.
2nd Period—2, Everett, Bajkov 12 (Fonteyne, Onyebuchi), 6:17. 3, Everett, Bajkov 13 (Zwerger), 6:32. 4, Everett, Bajkov 14 (Skrumeda, Fonteyne), 10:44. 5, Everett, Davis 3 (Bajkov), 13:12 (PP). Penalties—Butcher Mh (roughing), 10:51; Fischer Mh (roughing, major-fighting, game misconduct), 10:51; Kirichenko Mh (major-fighting), 10:51; Juulsen Evt (roughing, roughing), 10:51; Skrumeda Evt (major-fighting), 10:51; Shaw Mh (slashing), 13:03.
3rd Period—6, Medicine Hat, Forrest 1 (Bradley), 4:34. 7, Medicine Hat, Dahlstrom 14 (Bradley), 8:24. Penalties—Hein Evt (hooking), 10:29.
Shots on Goal—Medicine Hat 10-5-11-26. Everett 9-9-6-24.
Power Play Opportunities—Medicine Hat 0 / 2; Everett 1 / 6.
Goalies—Medicine Hat, Schneider 19-3-1-0 (24 shots-20 saves). Everett, Hart 15-3-3-0 (26 shots-23 saves).
A—4,387
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