KENT — The large contingent of Everett Silvertips fans in section 113 at ShoWare Center gave the players a standing ovation as they skated off the ice.
It’s been a long time since the traveling contingent had the opportunity to cheer following a road game against the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Everett ended more than two years of road misery against the T-birds on Sunday evening, defeating Seattle 2-1 in a shootout.
“You guys know how long it’s been since we’ve won here,” Everett coach John Becanic said while addressing the media, a wide grin across his face.
“It’s just nice for the fellows,” Becanic added. “They played so hard this weekend and I didn’t think we had anything left after (Friday night’s 3-0 loss to Vancouver). We emptied the tanks physically (Friday) night, but they found it. So give our guys credit, they deserve it all.”
Shane Harper was the difference maker for Everett. He scored following a beautiful move with 3 minutes, 31 seconds remaining in regulation to tie it, then tallied the only goal in the shootout as the Tips prevailed 1-0.
“We’ve been through some rough games, but right now we’re ecstatic, we’re so pumped right now,” said Harper, referring to Everett’s five-game losing streak that was snapped. “It was good for us to come back. We battled hard all game and had a lot of chances. It was good we didn’t get discouraged, I think that showed a lot. We’ve been playing hard and tonight it finally paid off.”
Thomas Heemskerk was rock solid in goal for the Tips (26-31-7-2), making 29 saves and stopping all three Seattle attempts in the shootout.
Everett also received a boost by the unexpected return of overage left wing Daniel Bartek. Bartek, probably the most important name on Everett’s lengthy injured list, suffered a broken hand while blocking a shot. He was originally feared lost for the remainder of the season. However, he slapped on a brace and was right back up to speed a mere 11 days later.
“It’s a broken hand with a splint on it, he’s just fighting through the pain,” Becanic said. “It’s his last year and he wants to play. If there’s anyone we knew who could come through it’s him. He’s a special kid who makes a difference.”
Prab Rai scored for Seattle (31-29-1-4), which had won seven straight at home. Calvin Pickard made 30 saves in goal for the T-birds.
Everett has struggled to ridiculous lengths on the road against Seattle. Going into the game the Tips were 4-21-0-1 with three ties all time in road games against the T-birds, whether at ShoWare Center or KeyArena in Seattle. The last time Everett won at Seattle was Jan. 27, 2007. Since then the Tips had lost nine straight on the road at Seattle.
For much of Sunday’s game it appeared the Seattle curse was going to rear its head again. Everett had all kinds of scoring chances through the first two periods, but all too often the Tips couldn’t get their stick on the puck as it sat invitingly in the crease, and when they did get a shot off they fired wide. Even beating Pickard didn’t work as Thomas Hickey cleared a Kellan Tochkin shot, which got past the Seattle netminder, off the goal line late in the second period.
But the Tips began finding the range in the third period, and although Pickard was up to the challenge, Harper finally found the crack. On the power play, Harper skated the puck into the offensive zone, dragged the puck past a defender, then was able to force it past Pickard to tie it.
“It’s not in your head what you’re going to do, it’s just what goes on second by second,” Harper explained about his team-leading 30th goal. “I pulled it in and had a little bit of a breakaway and it ended up going in. I was pretty excited.”
Harper now has 16 goals and 16 assists in his past 29 games.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take for an NHL team to give that kid a shot,” Becanic said about the undrafted and unsigned 1989-born Harper. “As far as I’m concerned since Christmas he’s been one of the best players in the league hands down, and he just continues to do it every night.”
Everett did a good job limiting Seattle’s opportunities all game long, but gave up several short-handed chances to the T-birds, and Seattle cashed in 6:01 into the second period. Seattle broke two-on-one, and although Heemskerk denied Greg Scott, Rai put in the rebound to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.
After Harper tied it, Scott had another glorious chance in overtime. However, Everett center Zack Dailey dived into the goal to block the puck’s path, and the game went to the shootout.
Silvertips 2, T-birds 1 (SO)
Everett0010—2
Seattle0100—1
Everett won shootout 1-0
First Period—No goals. Penalties—Potuer, Everett (holding), 3:57; Ellington, Everett (fighting); LeBlanc, Seattle (fighting), 10:38; Schappert, Seattle (interference), 12:46; Schappert, Seattle (interference), 20:00.
Second Period—1, Seattle, Rai 25 (Scott, Hickey), 6:01 (sh). Penalties—Abney, Everett (checking from behind-fighting), 3:43; Acolatse, Seattle (instigator-fighting-10-minute misconduct), 3:43; Lockhart, Seattle (hooking), 5:05; Sohor, Everett (slashing), 9:41.
Third Period—2, Everett, Harper 30 (Potuer), 16:29 (pp). Penalties—Warg, Seattle (cross checking), 7:11; Acolatse, Seattle (roughing), 13:47; Wells, Seattle (delay of game), 14:52.
Overtime—No goals. Penalties—none.
Shootout—Seattle 0 (Scott NG, Rai NG, O’Brien NG), Everett 1 (Tochkin NG, Harper G).
Shots on goal—Everett 7-5-17-2—31. Seattle 14-10-6-0—30. Power-play opportunities—Everett 1 of 6. Seattle 0 of 2.
Goalies—Everett, Heemskerk 15-17-3-3 (30 shots, 29 saves). Seattle, Pickard 20-13-1-4 (31 shots, 30 saves).
A—3,550.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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