EVERETT — There was a time not so long ago when the Everett Silvertips were the most feared shootout team in the WHL.
Those days are long gone.
Everett suffered yet another shootout loss Wednesday night, falling 4-3 to the Seattle Thunderbirds at Comcast Arena. It was Everett’s second shootout defeat in two nights against the T-birds, and the Tips are now a paltry 1-7 in shootouts this season.
Luke Lockhart converted the only goal in the shootout — adding to his two-goal tally during regulation — as Seattle won the shootout 1-0. It was the fifth time Everett lost a shootout 1-0 this season.
Just two years ago the Tips expected their shootout record to be reversed. The shootout was introduced to the WHL in the 2005-06 season, and over the first five seasons Everett had the best shootout record in the league, going 32-12 when playing for the extra point.
But oh how things have changed. Everett has prevailed just twice in 13 shootouts over the past two seasons. This season the Tips have converted just six of their 30 attempts, a measly 20-percent success rate.
“You saw a couple different shooters tonight,” said Everett coach Mark Ferner, who’s still searching for the winning formula in shootouts. “It’s not like we don’t practice it, either. It’s frustrating. But at the same time, when we got it going and played with some desperation I thought we were pretty darn good. We need to get in the mindset that we can’t get into those situations, that we need to bear down and end games in regulation or overtime.”
As a result the Tips drifted even further away from playoff contention, despite picking up points in each of their first two games of the second half. Opportunity presented itself with two games against Seattle, the team that occupies the eighth-and-final playoff position in the Western Conference, to open the second half. But the back-to-back shootout losses saw the Tips drop 11 points back in the playoff race.
“These were two games we felt we really needed to get,” Ferner said. “They’re a team that’s ahead of us. If we got two points each game in regulation we would have been five points back. But that’s not what happened. It was two entertaining games, but we’re disappointed we didn’t at least split.”
Cason Machacek also scored for Seattle (15-17-0-1). Calvin Pickard finished with 32 saves in goal for the T-birds.
“I think we played fairly well,” Lockhart said about Seattle’s performance in the two shootout wins against Everett. “Coming off the break is always a tough thing. We got the rust off and we look like we’re doing good right now. To get the four points was huge.”
Ryan Harrison had two goals and an assist to lead Everett (6-21-1-7). Teal Burns also scored, while Kent Simpson stopped 29 shots in net for the Tips.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Tips. Everett battled back after falling behind 3-1, and the Tips have now earned points in four straight games. That’s Everett’s longest points streak of the season.
However, Everett needed a gift in order to earn its point Wednesday. The Tips pushed hard while trailing 3-2 in the third period, but they were unable to get anything past Pickard. Kohl Bauml was twice denied, once by Pickard and once by the crossbar.
But Everett snuck one past the usually reliable Pickard with 5 minutes remaining in regulation. The Tips, while short-handed, had a chance at a two-one-one. However, the puck caught along the boards, forcing Harrison to pull up at the edge of the left circle as the defense recovered. Harrison just threw the puck on net, but Pickard fumbled it into the far corner for the tying goal.
The goal made up for a similar gift at the other end, when Simpson spilled a rebound to allow a tap-in for Lockhart’s second. That goal also came short-handed and gave Seattle a 3-1 lead 7:42 into the second period.
Slap shots
Everett defenseman Brennan Yadlowski achieved one of the WHL’s great milestones as he appeared in his 300th career game. Of those 300, 103 have come with Everett. The rest were with Lethbridge. … The game was briefly delayed midway through the first period. Everett’s Cody Fowlie put a hit on Seattle’s Braeden Laroque into the boards that caused one of the glass panels to come dislodged.
Thunderbirds 4, Silvertips 3 (SO)
Seattle 2 1 0 0—4
Everett 1 1 1 0—3
Seattle won shootout 1-0
First Period—1, Seattle, Machacek 1 (Sanvido), 9:12. 2, Everett, Burns 2 (Harrison, Winquist), 14:05. 3, Seattle, Lockhart 8, 18:46 (sh). Penalties—Machacek, Seattle (tripping), 1:23; Doty, Seattle (fighting), 8:59; Mychan, Everett (fighting), 8:59; Theodore, Seattle (high sticking), 17:05.
Second Period—4, Seattle, Lockhart 9 (Noebels, Deagle), 7:42. 5, Everett, Harrison 9 (Winquist, Bauml), 12:58. Penalties—Bittner, Everett (holding), 1:19; Elliot, Seattle (roughing), 7:04; Bittner, Everett (roughing), 7:04.
Third Period—6, Everett, Harrison 10, 15:00 (sh). Penalties—Henry, Everett (tripping), 13:20.
Overtime—no goals. Penalties—none.
Shootout—Everett 0 (Barnett NG, Harrison NG, Bauml NG); Seattle 1 (Jacobs NG, Sanvido NG, Lockhart G).
Shots on goal—Seattle 9-12-7-3—31. Everett 11-11-9-4—35. Power-play opportunities—Seattle 0 of 2. Everett 0 of 2.
Goalies—Seattle, Pickard 15-14-0-1 (35 shots, 32 saves). Everett, Simpson 5-16-1-5 (31 shots, 28 saves).
A—6,623.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.
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