KENT — After a discouraging defeat the previous evening, the Everett Silvertips were desperate for change in fortunes Saturday night.
All it took was some line shuffling to make that happen.
A second-period shuffling of the deck turned the game in Everett’s favor, and the Tips went on to defeat the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-1 at ShoWare Center.
And it was sweet redemption for a team that was hammered 6-0 at Tri-City 24 hours earlier.
“Before the game we were really focused, just on coming back after that,” Everett winger Shane Harper said. “I’m proud of the guys for that, really. It takes some guts.”
It wasn’t until the second period that the Tips put it into high gear. Tips coach Craig Hartsburg changed his lines for the second period, putting left wing Tyler Maxwell onto a line with Harper and Chris Langkow. They responded by combining for nine points as Everett overturned a 1-0 first-period deficit.
Scott MacDonald scored the other goal for Everett (14-7-1-0). Kent Simpson, who committed the gaffe of scoring into his own net in his previous start, which was also against Seattle, had a solid game in net with 30 saves.
“I thought we checked better,” was Everett coach Craig Hartsburg’s comparison to Friday’s effort. “Last night we weren’t very good defensively, we didn’t check a soul. Tonight I thought we were good on the cycle, held onto the puck and had more poise with the puck.”
Prab Rai scored the lone goal for Seattle (9-14-1-3). Calvin Pickard made 31 saves in net for the T-birds.
“I think we came off our gameplan (in the second period,” Rai said. “Our first period wasn’t bad, it wasn’t our best, but at the same time we came out with a 1-0 lead.”
Everett had a somber drive back from Kennewick late Friday night following the loss to Tri-City, a game that generated questions of whether the Tips are a true contender for the WHL’s U.S. Division crown.
But Saturday’s performance gave the Tips just the bounce they needed to banish thoughts of Friday’s loss from their minds.
“It’s junior hockey,” Hartsburg said. “Last night was obviously not a very good game. Then you see that Tri-City lost at home tonight 7-1 (to Regina). The thing with junior is you can’t get down too low and you can’t get too high when you win.”
The key came in the second period. After generating few offensive chances of note in the first period, Hartsburg changed things up in the second, putting the team’s top two goal scorers (Maxwell and Harper) on the same line. The move worked as that trio was dangerous every time it was out on the ice in the second.
“Sometimes you need that little stir,” Harper said. “Mixing things up doesn’t always work, but today it ended up working and we clicked.”
Everett’s first goal actually occurred while the Tips temporarily had their original configuration on the ice. Trailing 1-0, the Tips took advantage of an uncharacteristic spill by Pickard, Seattle’s star goalie. Pickard couldn’t handle Alex Theriau’s shot from the point, allowing MacDonald to score on the rebound to tie it up at 9 minutes, 47 seconds.
Then the new combination of Maxwell, Harper and Langkow went to work. Maxwell gave Everett the lead at 13:08 when his speculative shot from the left circle took a deflection past Pickard. Then Harper made it 3-1 at 15:39, making a move past Pickard after Maxwell found him all alone in front.
Those three wrapped the game up 3:34 into the third period when Langkow’s backhanded wraparound snuck under Pickard to give Everett a three-goal lead that was never threatened.
Seattle opened the scoring with a power-play goal as Jeremy Schappert’s shot from the point rebounded perfectly for Rai, giving the T-birds a 1-0 lead at 19:52.
Silvertips 4, Thunderbirds 1
Everett031—4
Seattle100—1
First Period—1, Seattle, Rai 13 (Nielsen. Schappert), 19:52 (pp). Penalties—Iwanski, Everett (boarding), 7:50; Muth, Seattle (checking from behind), 7:50; Gudas, Everett (tripping), 18:33.
Second Period—2, Everett, MacDonald 2 (Theriau, Harper), 9:47. 3, Everett, Maxwell 15 (Harper, Langkow), 13:08. 4, Everett, Harper 14 (Maxwell, Langkow), 15:39. Penalties—Theriau, Everett (fighting), 19:49; Lund, Seattle (fighting), 19:49.
Third Period—5, Everett, Langkow 7 (Maxwell, McDermott), 3:34. Penalties—Acolatse, Seattle (holding), 0:39; Dillon, Seattle (interference), 9:57; Dillon, Seattle (boarding), 12:13; Gudas, Everett (hooking), 15:28; Gudas, Everett (roughing), 18:15.
Shots on goal—Everett 10-14-11—35. Seattle 14-9-8—31. Power-play opportunities—Everett 0 of 3. Seattle 1 of 3.
Goalies—Everett, Simpson 5-4-0-0 (31 shots, 30 saves). Seattle, Pickard 8-10-1-3 (35 shots, 31 saves). A—4,079.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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