KENNEWICK — Overtime was a real struggle for the Everett Silvertips during the regular season.
It’s no surprise it bit the Tips during the playoffs, too.
Everett turned in a valiant performance, but the Silvertips succumbed in overtime, falling 6-5 to the Tri-City Americans on Friday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Justin Feser scored the game-winning goal 11 minutes, 13 seconds into overtime to give the Americans a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 2 is tonight in Kennewick.
Everett fought back with two goals in the final 3:04 of regulation, including Daniel Bartek’s tying goal with 21.9 seconds remaining, to force overtime. But the Tips were unable to snap their overtime jinx. During the regular season, Everett was 0-7 in games decided in overtime.
“It’s different, it’s five-on-five as opposed to four-on-four (the way overtime is played during the regular season), so I wouldn’t even compare them,” Everett coach John Becanic said, dismissing the overtime jinx. “I thought we were really good in overtime. We had some great chances.
“I was impressed with our team the whole night,” Becanic added. “The second period was tough because we were killing penalties the whole time, but we battled. If there were any guys in the that locker room who didn’t believe we could beat them, after that game I’m sure they believe.”
Adam Hughesman scored twice and Johnny Lazo, Tyler Schmidt and Lane Werbowski also scored in regulation for Tri-City.
Tri-City star goaltender Chet Pickard, who was questionable going into the game because of a concussion sustained Feb. 28, still looked rusty. However, he made some big saves among his 26.
“I thought we dodged a bullet,” Tri-City coach Don Nachbaur said. “We were fortunate to win in overtime. I thought Everett played a strong game, I give them all the credit in the world for coming back from a two-goal deficit late. But we weren’t in the locker room getting down on ourselves. We knew we had enough firepower to come back.”
Ryan White scored twice, Dan Iwanski and Tyler Maxwell also scored, and Thomas Heemskerk made 35 saves in goal for the underdog Tips, who could have used a victory in Game 1.
Friday’s game also marked the WHL debut for Everett prospect Ryan Murray. The 15-year-old defenseman, Everett’s first-round pick in last year’s bantam draft, looked right at home while skating a regular shift.
However, Everett leading scorer Kellan Tochkin skated off slow midway through the second period and did not return. Becanic did not know the nature of Tochkin’s injury or his status for tonight’s game.
The game appeared over when Werbowski scored with 3:13 remaining in regulation, snapping a shot from the high slot past Heemskerk with Everett’s skaters dog tired after a long shift on the penalty kill. The goal gave the Americans a 5-3 lead.
However, the Tips were thrown a lifeline nine seconds later when Pickard gave up a terrible rebound on Shane Harper’s shot from the point, allowing Maxwell to bang the puck home and get the deficit back to one. Then with time winding down and Heemskerk pulled for an extra attacker, Harper pulled the puck out of a scrum on a faceoff and although he was denied, Bartek put in the rebound with 21.9 seconds remaining to force overtime.
In OT, both teams had great scoring chances, with the goaltenders coming up big. But at 11:13 Brendan Shinnimin got the puck along the right boards and whipped a pass out front. The puck snuck through traffic all the way to Feser at the far post, and Feser slammed it in to end the game.
An all-action first period featured lots of hitting and plenty of scoring chances, with the Tips emerging with a 2-1 lead.
Tri-City, looking to punish the Tips from the opening faceoff, found itself in trouble after taking two penalties in the first minute. The Tips struck twice to go ahead 2-0.
Iwanski opened the scoring during a five-on-three at 1:55, scoring at the post after Taylor Ellington’s slap-pass forced Pickard out of position. Everett then scored five-on-four at 4:56, White forcing a loose puck under Pickard after good work from Bartek.
The Americans got a goal back at 6:43 when a blocked Everett dump-in sent Tri-City racing the other direction. Heemskerk saved Jason Reese’s shot off the rush, but the rebound bounced off Lazo and he snuck it under Heemskerk to make the score 2-1.
Tri-City got back to its skill game in the second period, leaving the Tips defense chasing shadows. The Americans struck for three straight goals to surge to a 4-2 lead. Schmidt tied it 2-2 on the power play at 5:40 with a one-timer from the point. At 8:12, Kruise Reddick was given time and space at the right circle and fired a shot that deflected off Hughesman past Heemskerk. Then Hughesman scored again at 13:56, putting his own rebound into the top corner to make it 4-2.
Everett made it a one-goal game again 5:47 into the third period, White scoring his second gaol when his soft shot through traffic took a deflection and looped over Pickard.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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