EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips are in the driver’s seat.
The Silvertips hold a commanding 3-1 lead over the Portland Winter Hawks in their best-of-seven Western Hockey League playoff series.
Everett has the momentum, having won three straight.
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And the Silvertips have won despite having yet to put their best hockey on the ice.
So this one’s a foregone conclusion, right?
Not on your life, according to the Tips.
The Tips head into tonight’s Game 5 at the Rose Garden in Portland with the realization that closing out the series is no gimmee.
“They’ve really taken it to us in this series,” said Everett center Zach Hamill, who scored the winning goal in each of the last two games. “To tell the truth, I think we’re lucky to be up 3-1 right now, and they’re probably thinking the same thing. So they’re going to be coming out hard the next game.”
Everett would appear to have a stranglehold on the series. The Tips have a two-game advantage, a goaltender who seems to have channeled the spirit of Patrick Roy in Michael Wall, and historically Everett has been like a shark sensing blood in the water when given the chance to close an opponent out – Everett was 3-0 in the playoffs last season when playing to win a series.
On the other hand, the Tips also know first hand that teams can come back from a 3-1 deficit. One look at last season’s Western Conference finals, when Everett overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat Kelowna, is proof enough.
“The bottom line is it takes four wins to win a series,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “Whether you’ve won two, lost two, won three, lost three, it’s somewhat immaterial to the fact that no one’s a winner yet. It’s like being in a game that you’re ahead. Has the final buzzer blown yet? You haven’t won until you’ve won four.
“I guess you’d say we’re more happy to be up 3-1 than down 3-1, but the series isn’t over.”
Portland certainly hasn’t shown any signs of giving up. The Winter Hawks clawed back from a 2-0 third-period deficit in Game 4 to tie it up and force overtime, and at times Portland has dominated play. The Winter Hawks outshot the Tips in all four games, and Portland coach Mike Williamson showed no signs of panic following Wednesday’s loss.
“We have to just concentrate on one game, going home and refocusing,” Williamson said. “It hurts right now and our guys are very upset, but we’ve got a day to recoup and it’s just a matter of playing together, playing hard and playing smart. I can’t fault our effort at all this whole series.”
Meanwhile, the Tips are looking to increase the quality of their play so that they’re not forced back into their own end the way they were earlier in the series, particularly in Games 2 and 3.
“We definitely have to play better in our own zone,” said Everett right wing Alex Leavitt, who leads the Tips in playoff scoring with five points. “They’ve really dominated us down low in our own zone. And we definitely have to do a better job on faceoffs. They’ve killed us in this series on faceoffs, probably winning 60-70 percent of the draws, and by winning a faceoff you control the puck.”
And they expect no quarter from the Winter Hawks.
“I just see them playing completely desperate, and we’re going to have to match that,” Leavitt said. “with your back up against the wall you have to do everything possible it takes to win. That’s what I imagine they’re going to do. They’re going to lay it all out on the line and do whatever it takes.”
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