EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips better be careful, or they might just end up diagnosed as manic depressive.
From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in period of 24 hours, they’re the type of results that drive people into therapy.
One night after beating the Western Conference’s best team on the road, the Tips lost to the conference’s worst team at home, falling 3-2 to the Chilliwack Bruins in their final home game of the regular season.
Dylen McKinlay snapped a 2-2 tie midway through the third period as the Bruins kept the Tips on an emotional roller coaster.
“It was a hard loss,” Everett defenseman Taylor Ellington said. “Any time you beat a team like Vancouver … I just thought we came out a lot harder against Vancouver, I thought we got more amped.”
How stark was the difference in results the past two nights? On Friday night Everett traveled to Vancouver and beat the top team in the Western Conference 5-3, a result that had the Tips euphoric.
But then the Tips followed it up by losing at home — before a raucous sold-out crowd of 8,525 at Comcast Arena — to the bottom team in the Western Conference. Indeed, Chilliwack’s victory ensured the Bruins wouldn’t finish with the worst record in the league.
It wasn’t a terrible performance by the Tips. Everett outshot Chilliwack 33-27 and created scoring opportunities. But the Bruins capitalized on a rough first period by Everett starting goaltender Kent Simpson, and the Tips were never able to overcome an early deficit.
“You’re talking about two different teams,” Everett coach John Becanic said about the difference two nights. “We had the puck on our stick way more tonight, so you feel better. We had a lot of quality scoring chances and their goalie (Mark Friesen) came up big.
“(Friday) was an emotional win, obviously we had to play hard, and we had so much puck luck (Friday) night. Tonight, not so.”
David Robinson and Kevin Sundher also scored for Chilliwack (18-46-2-5), which moved a point ahead of Moose Jaw, which has played out its schedule. Friesen finished with 31 saves.
Ellington and Kellan Tochkin scored for Everett (27-35-7-2), which can’t seem to find a way to beat Chilliwack at home. Saturday night’s loss was the Tips’ fourth straight home loss to the Bruins, with Everett’s last home victory against the Bruins coming on Feb. 3, 2007.
Simpson stopped just five of the seven shots he faced before Thomas Heemskerk replaced him to start the second period. Heemskerk ended up with a hard-luck loss after stopping 19 of 20.
And the Tips were left to lament their inability to finish out the home schedule with a victory.
“It would have been nice winning the last home game, and our guys were focused on it,” Becanic said. “We dressed our best lineup and played them right to the end. We needed a little more luck around the net tonight.”
Everett completes the regular season tonight at Seattle.
Chilliwack took a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to a pair of goals Simpson would likely want back. The first came at 12:00 when Simpson spilled Sundher’s shot off the rush, allowing Robinson to hack in a rebound. The second came with 5.3 seconds remaining in the period on the power play, Sundher walking out front from the corner and the puck trickling in under Simpson.
Heemskerk came in to start the second and immediately Everett’s fortunes turned. Heemskerk made several big saves early in the period to keep it a two-goal game, then the Tips scored twice on the power play to tie it up. Tochkin scored at 10:20 when he took a cross-crease feed from Tyler Maxwell and banked a shot in off Friesen. Then Ellington scored at 14:02, putting a one-timer in off the inside of the post to tie it.
But Everett couldn’t convert several chances with the score tied, and the Bruins salted the game away after McKinlay’s goal.
Chilliwack lost its star forward Ryan Howse early in the game. Howse went crashing feet-first into the boards in the first period and had to be helped from the ice, favoring a leg. He did not return.
Bruins 3, Silvertips 2
Chilliwack201—3
Everett020—2
First Period—1, Chilliwack, Robinson 11 (Sundher), 12:00. 2, Chilliwack, Sundher 19 (Robinson, McKinlay), 19:54 (pp). Penalties—Ward, Chilliwack (goaltender interference), 3:40; White, Everett (interference), 19:05.
Second Period—3, Everett, Tochkin 20 (Maxwell, Froese), 10:20. 4, Everett, Ellington 6 (Froese, Tochkin), 14:02. Penalties—Wiklund, Chilliwack (roughing), 5:46; de la Lande, Everett (roughing), 5:46; Manning, Chilliwack (cross checking), 9:07; Ius, Chilliwack (roughing), 13:16; Berg, Chilliwack (tripping), 14:36; Robinson, Chilliwack (high sticking), 16:15; Burt, Everett (hooking), 19:05.
Third Period—5, Chilliwack, McKinlay 3 (Einhorn, Meropoulis), 7:48. Penalties—Manning, Chilliwack (slashing), 9:11; Sundher, Chilliwack (hooking), 19:40; Alexander, Everett (hooking), 19:56.
Shots on goal—Chilliwack 7-9-11—27. Everett 8-14-11—33. Power-play opportunities—Chilliwack 1 of 2. Everett 2 of 7. Goalies—Chilliwack, Friesen 10-26-1-3 (33 shots, 31 saves). Everett, Simpson (7 shots, 5 saves), Heemskerk 16-21-3-3 (20 shots, 19 saves). A—8,525.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
