KELOWNA, B.C. — The Everett Silvertips bid goodbye and good riddance to Prospera Place on Saturday night. The home of the Kelowna Rockets was nothing but a madhouse of horrors for the Tips in their first-round playoff series.
Everett suffered its third frustrating road loss of the series Saturday, coughing up a third-period lead en route to a 5-4 defeat to Kelowna in Game 6.
The result tied the best-of-seven series at three games apiece, setting up a one-game, winner-takes-all Game 7 Monday in Everett.
The home team had won all six games so far in the series, and Prospera Place was particularly cruel to the Tips. All three games in Kelowna saw wild momentum swings, and Everett held leads in each of the three, but couldn’t hold on.
Saturday’s version saw the Tips take a 4-3 lead into the third period, but goals by Tyson Barrie and Lucas Bloodoff just 17 seconds apart midway through the third sent Everett to yet another disappointing road defeat.
“It’s obviously disappointing,” Everett center Byron Froese said. “We had a rough start, then our second period was good, but we fell apart again in the third. We have to fix that and we have to play our game for 60 minutes.”
Barrie finished with two goals to lead Kelowna, which outshot Everett 35-16. Shane McColgan and Codey Ito also scored for the Rockets while Mark Guggenberger finished with 12 saves in goal.
Froese, Scott MacDonald, Dan Iwanski and Shane Harper scored for Everett, which nearly stole a victory. Despite being outplayed for much of the game, Everett scored three times in the final eight minutes of the second period, turning a 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 lead.
But Everett is all too familiar with losing leads in Kelowna. The Tips held two-goal first-period leads in both Games 3 and 4 before the Rockets came back to win, and Saturday’s circumstances continued the trend.
“For whatever reason — I have no idea — but in this building when we get a lead we seem to want to sit back and play on our heels,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “Against a team like that, they just keep coming at you. We didn’t do the job to put pressure on them. They’ve got a lot of character, a lot of guys who have won on that side, and they just keep coming.”
Kent Simpson stopped 30 shots in goal for the Tips.
Kelowna played Game 6 with considerably more jump than in its 4-0 Game 5 loss Friday in Everett, and in the third period it only seemed a matter of time before the Rockets equalized. It finally happened on the power play with 10 minutes, 44 seconds remaining in regulation. The puck came to Barrie at the right point, where he had an open look at goal. Barrie wound up and blew a slap shot past Simpson to tie it at 4-4.
The crowd had barely finished cheering when they had reason to celebrate again. Following the ensuing faceoff the Rockets got the puck behind the Everett net. Bloodoff tracked it down and tried to wrap it around the post. The puck deflected between Simpson’s legs and into the goal, giving the Rockets the lead.
“We knew our backs were against the wall and it was do or die,” Barrie said. “We came out with a good effort and we had some unlucky bounces, but things came together in the third. We showed a lot of character, I thought.”
Everett had one good chance to tie it back up, but Guggenberger stoned Froese when Froese came in free on goal. Tips needed some desperation saves from Simpson just to stay within one, and Everett never mounted a serious threat in the closing minutes.
“(Friday) night we were in their faces the whole game, we kept them hemmed in their zone,” Everett captain Zack Dailey said. “Tonight we kind of let them off the hook. We weren’t finishing as many checks and we weren’t getting many pucks deep. We were kind of soft on the puck tonight.”
The teams traded soft goals in a first period that ended 1-1. Everett, which scored first in each of the previous five games, did so again when the Tips made it 1-0 4:33 into the game. MacDonald was behind the net just trying to throw the puck in front, but it deflected off the back of Guggenberger’s skate at the post and over the line. The Rockets tied it at 18:15 when McColgan’s shot off the rush got through Simpson and trickled in, making it 1-1.
Kelowna appeared to take control with two goals in two minutes midway through the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Barrie broke the tie at 7:10, picking out the top corner when a puck squirted free to the point. Then Ito scored at 8:53 after Tyler Matheson’s centering feed found its way to the far post.
But Everett came storming back, scoring three times to take a 4-3 lead into the third. Iwanski scored at 12:31, tipping Curtis Kulchar’s shot past Guggenberger to make it a one-goal game. Then the Tips scored twice on the power play in the final 1:15. Froese poked a loose puck in the crease under Guggenberger at 18:45, and after a lengthy review the goal was given and the game was tied. Then with 12.9 seconds remaining in the period Harper put in a rebound of a Dailey shot to give the Tips the lead.
Rockets 5, Silvertips 4
Everett130—4
Kelowna122—5
First Period—1, Everett, MacDonald 2 (Iwanski), 4:33. 2, Kelowna, McColgan 1 (Callahan, Jobke), 18:15. Penalties—Elynuik, Everett (interference), 7:40; L. Bloodoff, Kelowna (roughing), 10:53.
Second Period—3, Kelowna, Barrie 1 (L. Bloodoff, McMillan), 7:10. 4, Kelowna, Ito 1 (Matheson, Adolph), 8:53. 5, Everett, Iwanski 3 (Kulchar, Cumiskey), 12:31. 6, Everett, Froese 3 (Tochkin, Murray), 18:45 (pp). 7, Everett, Harper 6 (Langkow, Dailey), 19:47 (pp). Penalties—Murray, Everett (roughing), 15:56; L. Bloodoff, Kelowna (roughing), 15:56; Main, Kelowna (tripping), 17:37; McMillan, Kelowna (roughing), 19:28.
Third Period—8, Kelowna, Barrie 2 (McColgan, E. Bloodoff), 9:16 (pp). 9, Kelowna, L. Bloodoff 1 (McMillan, Jobke), 9:33. Penalties—McCrea, Everett (tripping), 7:32; Rissanen, Everett (roughing), 20:00; L. Bloodoff, Kelowna (roughing), 20:00.
Shots on goal—Everett 5-7-4—16. Kelowna 17-6-12—35. Power-play opportunities—Everett 2 of 3. Kelowna 1 of 2.
Goalies—Everett, Simpson 2-2 (35 shots, 30 saves). Kelowna, Guggenberger 3-1 (16 shots, 12 saves).
A—5,038.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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