EVERETT — For a while it appeared the Everett Silvertips might just eke something out from a game that maybe they didn’t deserve to win.
But just when Everett started asserting itself, its chance at victory slipped away.
Erik Felde scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and the Silvertips fell 3-1 to the Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday night at Comcast Arena.
“It’s frustrating,” Everett coach John Becanic said. “We didn’t do much to generate a ton of offense in the first two periods. Then in the third, we didn’t give up a whole lot and I don’t know how many open nets we missed.”
Playing without star playmaker Zach Hamill, who’s away at Team Canada’s selection camp for the World Junior Hockey Championships, Everett created almost nothing offensively through two periods. However, a fortunate-bounce goal from Vitali Karamnov sent the Tips into the third period tied 1-1 despite their struggles.
Then Everett started making things happen offensively in the third, and the Tips even had what they thought was the go-ahead goal waved off. But shortly after the disallowed goal, Felde snapped a shot past Everett goaltender Shayne Barrie following a nice feed from Zack Smith. Everett never threatened again.
“They had a lot of pressure on us,” Swift Current coach Dean Chynoweth said of the third period. “I thought our goalie made the saves when he needed to. For the most part we were scrambling a bit at times and I thought the guys did a good job of getting in lanes and blocking some shots. So to get the goal right after that was a big lift to our bench.”
Jan Dalecky also scored, Smith added a late empty netter and Ian Curtis made 25 saves for Swift Current (18-12-0-5), which won for the first time during its swing through the U.S. Division. The Broncos lost their first two games against U.S. foes.
Shayne Barrie, getting the start with No. 1 Leland Irving also at Team Canada’s tryouts, finished with 27 saves in goal for Everett (16-15-0-2).
“We’re not capitalizing on our chances, our power play is awful and we’re just not doing enough to win,” Everett leading scorer Kyle Beach said. “Until we can do that nothing’s going to happen.”
Everett couldn’t get anything going against Swift Current’s defense through the first two periods, managing just 12 shots on goal with none of those causing Curtis any distress.
So, it was fitting that Everett scored in the manner it did late in the second to tie it 1-1. With 1 minutes, 51 seconds remaining, Karamnov forced the puck up along the left boards and skated into the zone two-on-one. He moved to the center and shot, and although Curtis made the save, the rebound bounced off the back of a defender and looped into the net.
The Tips then came on strong in the third and had several chances to go ahead. On a power play, Beach passed up a golden opportunity with the net gaping, choosing to pass instead of shoot. Then later on the same power play, the Tips thought they’d scored on a scramble. But Curtis reached out and slapped his glove on the puck as it slid along the goal line, and the referee blew the whistle before the Tips poked it free and into the net.
Shortly after that Swift Current was ahead.
Everett got caught on a long shift, with Smith stealing the puck behind the Tips net and sending a pass into the slot, where Felde slid a shot inside the far post to make it 2-1 at 10:55.
And the Tips were left lamenting their inability to put the puck in the net.
“We haven’t proven to be a prolific offensive team yet, and tonight was no different until the third period,” Becanic said. “We’re just trying to get the guys to do simple things, and when we started doing simple things stuff happened.”
It looked as though the first period was going to end scoreless, but the Broncos got a late power play and capitalized with just 25.1 seconds remaining. A sliding puck ended up on the stick of Dalecky in the left slot, and he was able to squeeze a shot past Barrie at the near post, staking Swift Current to a 1-0 lead.
Smith wrapped up the game with an empty-net power-play goal with 7.6 seconds remaining.
Slap shots: Center Zack Dailey was sporting a brand new “A” on the front of his jersey as Everett’s newest alternate captain. He filled the spot vacated when Brennan Sonne was traded to Red Deer in November. … Everett right wing Matt Ius returned to the lineup after three games out because of a concussion, and 15-year-old goaltender Kent Simpson suited up for the first time in his WHL career, though he did not play. … Swift Current was playing without injured forwards Keegan Dansereau (concussion), David Stieler (thigh bruise) and Cody Eakin (concussion) and therefore dressed just 17 skaters. … The game was delayed three times because a rail separating the glass panels came free. It’s the second straight game at Comcast Arena where that was a problem.
Broncos 3, Silvertips 1
@5. NHLtop:Swift Current102—3
@5. NHLbottom:Everett010—1
@5. NHL box :First Period—1, Swift Current, Delecky 5 (Wilson, Doyle), 19:34 (pp). Penalties—Claffey, Swift Current (hooking), 0:43; Beach, Everett (hooking), 5:31; Crowley, Everett (delay of game), 6:40; Curtis, Swift Current (delay of game, served by Weise), 7:39; Ius, Everett (checking from behind), 18:00.
Second Period—2, Everett, Karamnov 5 (Vartovnik), 18:09. Penalties—McAvoy, Swift Current (slashing), 0:32; Gendur, Everett (hooking), 8:09.
Third Period—3, Swift Current, Felde 16 (Smith, Weise), 10:55. 4, Swift Current, Smith 12 (Felde, Weise), 19:52 (pp-en). Penalties—Curtis, Swift Current (delay of game, served by Weise), 5:46; Crowley, Everett (high sticking), 19:11; LaRochelle, Swift Current (fighting), 19:52; Beach, Everett (instigator-fighting-game misconduct), 19:52.
Shots on goal—Swift Current 9-9-12—30. Everett 5-8-13—26. Power-play opportunities—Swift Current 2 of 6. Everett 0 of 4.
Goalies—Swift Current, Curtis 4-2-0-0 (26 shots, 25 saves). Everett, Barrie 3-4-0-0 (29 shots, 27 saves).
A—4,938.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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