Silvertips move into tie for first

EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips have shown in their first season that they can do a lot of things well. But their true forte has been killing off penalties, and that ability took center stage Tuesday night against the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Thanks to that unit’s work, Everett finds itself back in first place in the U.S. Division.

The Silvertips penalty-kill unit squashed every Moose Jaw power-play opportunity, then added the game-winning goal as Everett defeated the Warriors 2-0 in a Western Hockey League contest before an Everett Events Center crowd of 3,410.

Riley Armstrong and John Dahl scored the goals and Jeff Harvey and Michael Wall combined on the shutout in goal for Everett (26-20-7-2), the Silvertips’ second straight shutout after blanking Vancouver 3-0 on Saturday. Everett is now tied atop the division standings with Portland and Tri-City at 61 points, with home games this weekend against both.

“The guys are pretty excited,” Dahl said. “We basically knew what was on the line tonight and we just made it a goal for ourselves to make sure we got the win tonight. We’ve still got quite a ways to go, but we’re keeping ourselves in charge of our own destiny.”

Moose Jaw, which has already clinched a playoff spot, fell to 30-19-8-1.

Everett came into the game ranked second in the WHL in penalty killing, nullifying 89.2 percent of its opponents’ chances. Tuesday the Silvertips penalty-killing unit had to work overtime. Everett, the least-penalized team in the league, uncharacteristically gave up nine power plays to a team with two of the most dangerous offensive players in the league – Tomas Fleischmann and Kyle Brodziak.

But for two periods Everett’s penalty killers frustrated Moose Jaw, blocking shots and keeping the puck away from the net. Then in the third period, Wall performed like his name, blocking every Warrior scoring chance.

Everett has now gone eight games without giving up a power-play goal. Opponents are 0-for-30 during that span.

“When it comes to penalty killing it all comes down to hard work,” said Dahl, one of Everett’s six regular penalty-killing forwards. “When you’ve got it on your mind when you come out during the game that you’re going to have to outwork a team as skilled as they are, then usually you do all right. Guys worked really hard tonight for the amount of penalties we took and sometimes you’ve got to rely on your penalty kill to get through a few rough goings.”

Armstrong gave the penalty-kill unit even more glory, scoring the first goal of the game midway through the second period on a shorthanded situation.

The Silvertips had just killed off the first penalty of a five-on-three and as Armstrong emerged from the penalty box, the puck eluded a Warrior defenseman and fell into Armstrong’s path. Armstrong broke down the left, put a quick move on Moose Jaw goalie Mike Brodeur and put the puck into the far-upper corner for a shorthanded goal at 8 minutes, 19 seconds. It was Armstrong’s 11th goal of the season.

Immediately after Armstrong’s goal, Harvey had to leave the game because of cramps. Harvey had faced just six shots to that point. Wall relieved and made 25 saves, including 17 during the third period when the Warriors pounded away with four power plays.

“You have to give their guys credit,” Moose Jaw coach Curtis Hunt said. “They scored a shorthanded goal as the game winner and they kept us out. We had a lot of chances and they did a good job. I think Wall was key back there and the guys played well in front of him.”

Everett scored its second goal at 14:33 of the second period. This time the Silvertips had the man advantage and Everett’s pressure caused the puck to pinball around the crease. The puck eventually rebounded out left where Armstrong grabbed it and wheeled a pass across the crease to Dahl, who slammed it past Brodeur to make it 2-0. It was Dahl’s team-leading 21st goal of the season.

Slap shots: Right wing Mitch Ruminski, who was called up by Everett from his midget team in Winnipeg as an injury cover for last weekend’s games against Vancouver, remained with the team for Tuesday’s game. The 16-year-old was in the lineup Tuesday. … The Warriors complete their swing through the U.S. Division today at Seattle. Moose Jaw will have played all five U.S. Division teams in six days. So far the Warriors are 1-3 against the U.S. Division.

Silvertips 2, Warriors 0