EVERETT — For a moment it appeared the Everett Silvertips were going to be the crying child who was left standing empty-handed, his savory treat snatched away.
Instead, it was just a case of delayed gratification.
Zach Hamill scored 48 seconds into overtime, giving the Silvertips a 3-2 victory over the Kamloops Blazers on Friday night at Comcast Arena.
But Hamill’s goal averted disaster for the Tips, as Kamloops scored with a mere 1.2 seconds remaining in regulation to tie it and force overtime.
“It looked like the game got away, kind of,” Hamill said. “But that kind of stuff happens in hockey. You just have to rebound from it and we calmed down and scored the winning goal in overtime.”
Kyle Beach had a goal and two assists for Everett (3-5-0-0), which won back-to-back games for the first time this season. Dan Gendur added a goal and an assist and Leland Irving made 26 saves in net for the Tips. All three of Everett’s goals came on the power play.
For a brief moment it looked as though the Tips might be consigned to another moment of early-season misery when Brock Nixon’s last-second, desperation shot took a deflection and snuck past Irving, salvaging a point for the Blazers (3-3-1-0).
However, the Tips were the beneficiaries of a high-sticking penalty taken late in regulation by Kamloops’ C.J. Stretch. As a result Everett began overtime with a four-on-three power play, and Hamill was able to wrist a shot from the point through traffic and past Kamloops goaltender Justin Leclerc to end it.
“I thought I was going to have a heart attack out there,” Everett coach John Becanic said.
“It’s Murphy’s Law for us right now, good and bad,” Becanic added. “Fortunately we had the power play. I just wanted to get everybody’s heart rate down — I don’t think I got mine down — and relax, knowing we had four pretty good players we could put on the ice.”
Travis Dunstall also scored for Kamloops and Leclerc finished with 18 saves for the Blazers, who dominated the third period as the Tips clung to their one-goal lead.
“We didn’t quit on it, that was good,” Kamloops coach Dean Clark said. “I thought we played a real strong third period, did a lot of things very well to try and tie the game up.
“We just took too many penalties against one of the best power plays in the league, that was our downfall.”
This one should have ended in regulation. Stretch took his penalty with 25.1 seconds remaining, forcing Kamloops to try and tie it up while short-handed.
Then with time winding down Everett’s Brennan Sonne was able to find some space in the neutral zone before shoveling his shot at an empty net wide.
Kamloops barely had enough time for a final rush, but when the puck got caught up at the Everett blue line, Nixon swept in and fired a shot that deflected off a stick and found the corner of the net.
“Sonne did everything you’re supposed to do with the goalie out,” Becanic said. “It’s behind their net with 81/2 seconds to go. Then they shot it from the blue line and it hit a stick, knuckleballed on Irv, it happens. We had a goal like that three years ago in Swift Current where with half-a-second we scored, so I guess it was just a matter of time before it came back around and caught us.”
Silvertips 3, Blazers 2 (OT)
Kamloops 0 1 1 0—2
Everett 1 1 0 1—3
First Period—1, Everett, Beach 6 (Gendur, Hamill), 3:06 (pp). Penalties—Rowley, Kamloops (boarding), 0:55; Ellerby, Kamloops (delay of game), 1:07; Harty, Everett (boarding), 5:06; Wray, Kamloops (checking from behind-checking from behind), 16:33; Ellerby, Kamloops (game misconduct), 16:33; Gendur, Everett (tripping), 17:23.
Second Period—2, Everett, Gendur 2 (Beach), 7:58 (pp). 3, Kamloops, Dunstall 3 (Stretch, White), 10:39 (pp). Penalties—Vartovnik, Everett (hooking), 1:35; Wiebe, Kamloops (kneeing), 5:24; Bartley, Kamloops (delay of game), 7:53; Strong, Everett (tripping), 8:48; Potuer, Everett (delay of game), 9:25; Bender, Kamloops (unsportsmanlike conduct), 11:49; Hamill, Everett (roughing), 11:49; Mistelbacher, Kamloops (unsportsmanlike conduct), 11:49; Wray, Kamloops (interference), 16:31.
Third Period—4, Kamloops, Nixon 4 (Puustinen, Bartley), 19:58 (sh). Penalties—Eskesen, Everett (holding), 5:34; Vartovnik, Everett (tripping), 9:45; Bender, Kamloops (slashing) 12:26; Potuer, Everett (charging) 12:26; Stretch, Kamloops (high sticking), 19:34.
Overtime—5, Everett, Hamill 2 (Harty, Beach), 0:48 (pp). Penalties—None.
Shots on goal—Kamloops 5-9-14-0—28. Everett 7-7-6-1—21. Power-play opportunities—Kamloops 1 of 7. Everett 3 of 8. Goalies—Kamloops, Leclerc 2-3-1-0 (21 shots, 18 saves). Everett, Irving 3-4-0-0 (28 shots, 26 saves). A—5,578.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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