Silvertips roll over Seattle 7-0

Published 11:05 pm Friday, January 28, 2011

EVERETT —Friday night’s game was one the Everett Silvertips desperately needed in their push for a playoff spot.

The Tips couldn’t have picked a better time to produce their largest offensive output of the season.

In a game between teams battling head-to-head for a playoff spot, Everett blitzed the Seattle Thunderbirds for seven goals, winning 7-0 before an enthusiastic crowd of 8,045 at Comcast Arena.

Everett, which made the playoffs in each of its first seven seasons of existence, finds itself in a dogfight to stretch that streak to eight. Seattle is one of the teams the Tips are engaged with in that battle.

But two goals apiece from Tyler Maxwell and Cody Fowlie, along with a 35-shot shutout from Kent Simpson, pulled Everett out of the Western Conference cellar and into a three-way tie for seventh with Seattle and Kamloops.

“I think pretty much every game at this point is important,” said Everett center Clayton Cumiskey, who helped set the tone with his play in the first period. “It’s even more important when we’re playing a team like Seattle who we’re in a race with.”

Cumiskey, Josh Winquist and Josh Birkholz also scored for Everett in what was a dramatic offensive outburst from the team that’s scored the fewest goals in the league. The Tips’ previous season high for goals was six, which the accomplished twice: Dec. 3 at Swift Current, and Jan. 15 the last time Seattle visited Everett.

“We just played simple,” Cumiskey explained about Everett’s offensive outburst. “Our game plan was just to get it up the ice as quick as we can, get it into the zone and pressure. We stuck to that pretty much most of the game and it worked out for us.”

Maxwell’s first-period goal was his 30th of the season. That gives Maxwell back-to-back 30-goal seasons, and it’s just the seventh 30-goal season in Everett’s eight-year history.

Lost in the offensive explosion was the performance by Simpson. Everett’s netminder didn’t have a lot to do prior to the Tips taking a 4-0 lead. However, he made some crucial saves during a Seattle power play late in the second period to maintain Everett’s cushion, then he made several stunners in the third to hold on for his first shutout of the season.

“Kent made a lot of saves,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “I don’t really think it was a 7-0 hockey game. Kent was really good for us. It shouldn’t go unnoticed in this game, but I think our goalie was really good. He had to make some key saves and big saves at the right times.”

Meanwhile, Seattle star goaltender Calvin Pickard had a rough night. With a makeshift defense in front of him, Pickard allowed six goals on 26 shots before being pulled early in the third period. Michael Salmon stopped four of five in relief.

Everett opened the scoring at 10 minutes, 24 seconds of the first period. Parker Stanfield’s shot off the rush banked off a Seattle defender, then off the skate of an onrushing Maxwell. After a brief video review the goal was upheld, giving the Tips a 1-0 lead.

The Tips then made it 2-0 at 12:10 on a great effort by Cumiskey. While playing four-on-four, Cumiskey wriggled free in the corner and tried to put the puck out front from behind the net. The puck bounced off traffic and toward the far post as Cumiskey swung around the net, and Cumiskey was able to sweep it over Pickard.

Everett then put it away with two goals in 10 seconds early in the second. First, Cumiskey created a turnover along the boards, with the puck squirting free to Winquist in the slot. Winquist sniped a shot past Pickard to make it 3-0 at 4:23. Then before the cheering for Winquist’s goal was complete, the Tips scored again. Fowlie stripped Seattle defenseman Shea Theodore as he tried to bring the puck out of his own end, then beat Pickard to the far post, making it 4-0.

Everett turned it into a rout in the third. Maxwell got his second of the game at 3:25 when he converted Stanfield’s nice feed in transition. Birkholz made it 6-0 at 4:20, putting a shot from the slot past Pickard after a faceoff win and sending Pickard to the bench. Fowlie completed the scoring at 10:56 as Salmon could only get the tip of his glove to Fowlie’s shot from the circle.

Slap shots

Everett center Landon Ferraro underwent surgery to repair his hernia Friday afternoon in Detroit. No further details were available about the procedure, but Ferraro is expected to be out until at least early March. … Seattle was without two key defensemen Friday, Travis Bobbee and Ryan Button, because of shoulder injuries. Therefore, a pair of 15-year-old call-up defensemen in Theodore and Jared Hauf made their WHL debuts for the T-birds.

Silvertips 7, Thunderbirds 0

Seattle 0 0 0—0

Everett 2 2 3—7

First Period—1, Everett, Maxwell 30 (Stanfield, Murray), 10:24. 2, Everett, Cumiskey 6 (MacDonald), 12:10. Penalties—Sutter, Seattle (delay of game), 1:17; Sutter, Seattle (tripping), 11:06; Maxwell, Everett (tripping), 11:33; Birkholz, Everett (holding), 12:52.

Second Period—3, Everett, Winquist 5 (Cumiskey), 4:23. 4, Everett, Fowlie 4, 4:33. Penalties—Lund, Seattle (tripping), 6:39; Giebel, Everett (tripping), 18:21.

Third Period—5, Everett, Maxwell 31 (Stanfield, Harrison), 3:25. 6, Everett, Birkholz 12 (Fowlie), 4:20. 7, Everett, Fowlie 5 (Birkholz, Erricson), 10:56. Penalties—MacDonald, Everett (tripping), 6:12; Toomey, Seattle (elbowing-fighting), 16:14; Cumiskey, Everett (interference-fighting), 16:14; Sanvido, Seattle (roughing-roughing-10-minute misconduct), 17:25; Rissanen, Everett (roughing-10-minute misconduct), 17:25; Alos, Seattle (fighting), 18:57; Birkholz, Everett (fighting), 18:57.

Shots on goal—Seattle 9-10-16—35. Everett 13-10-8—31. Power-play opportunities—Seattle 0 of 4. Everett 0 of 4.

Goalies—Seattle, Pickard 18-19-3-5 (26 shots, 20 saves), Salmon 0-2-1-0 (5 shots, 4 saves). Everett, Simpson 12-16-3-4 (35 shots, 35 saves).

A—8,045.

Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.