EVERETT — These were two points the Everett Silvertips could ill afford to let slip away.
Then less than two minutes into the game, Everett found itself behind.
Conventional hockey wisdom says the first goal is usually the most important. However, the Tips made a mockery of that adage Saturday night.
After a stuttering start, Everett regrouped and played its way to a comfortable 5-1 victory over the struggling Moose Jaw Warriors at Comcast Arena.
“I thought we had a slow start, but then we started to pick it up,” Tips winger Tyler Maxwell said. “We gradually got better as the game went along and I think we played well all-around.”
Maxwell scored two goals to lead Everett, which needed to secure the full two points against a Moose Jaw team ripe for the picking. The Warriors had won just twice in its previous 11 games, and Moose Jaw was weary from playing its fourth game in five nights.
By getting those two points Everett (36-19-2-1) kept pace with Portland and Spokane in the race for second place in the U.S. Division. All three teams won Saturday, meaning Portland still leads Everett by two points, with Spokane another three points behind.
“We talked a little bit about Moose Jaw,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “They’re going through their (U.S. Division) swing now and we didn’t want them to get points out of our building. Spokane got two from them (in a 6-3 victory Wednesday), now they’re off to Portland and Tri-City. They’re a good team, so it’s not like it was an automatic two points, but it was a huge two points.”
Chris de la Lande, Chris Langkow and Scott MacDonald also scored for Everett. Thomas Heemskerk earned the win in goal with 26 saves.
Quinton Howden scored the lone goal for Moose Jaw (27-22-4-4), which is fighting for its playoff life. The Warriors, who are engaged in a four-way battle for the final two playoff berths in the Eastern Conference, are now tied with Swift Current for seventh place in the east, with Prince Albert just one point behind and Regina lurking five back.
Moose Jaw coach Dave Hunchak gave a second consecutive start to backup goaltender Brandon Glover, who beat Seattle 3-1 Friday night. However, that didn’t work out as Glover was pulled in the second period having given up three goals on 14 shots. Jeff Bosch stopped 11 of 13 in relief.
“After (Everett’s second goal), I thought they played very well structurally and we couldn’t get a lot going,” Hunchak said. “When they got pucks to the net they had some traffic and some good opportunities. When we got pucks to the net, we weren’t willing to pay a price in that hard area in front of the net.
“Our team going through this road trip understands what’s at stake, and we’re still right in the mix of it,” Hunchak added. “I guess that’s the fortunate thing. We’ve hit some hard times here a little bit, but we’ve been able to keep ourselves in that mix.”
It’s didn’t appear anything was going to come comfortably for Everett early in Saturday’s game. A mere 1 minute, 32 seconds into the contest, Howden pounced on Everett defenseman Radko Gudas’ fumble for a clear path at goal, then wired a shot in off the crossbar to give the Warriors an instant 1-0 lead.
Everett didn’t respond well initially. The Tips appeared out of sync, failing to threaten the Moose Jaw goal despite two early power plays.
But once the Tips found the goal it was all Everett the rest of the way. A loose puck slid to de la Lande at the right point and he stepped into a slap shot that beat Glover to tie it up at the 12:31 mark. Then the Tips grabbed the lead at 18:20, Langkow using his strength to fend off a defender while circling the crease and putting a backhander past Glover.
Maxwell scored on the power play 8:04 into the second period, converting a backdoor feed from Kellan Tochkin to make it a two-goal game and send Glover to the bench. Then at 18:16, MacDonald latched onto a rebound and wrapped it around the opposite post to make it 4-1 and end it as a contest.
It was also an improved performance from Friday when the Tips played flat for the first 30 minutes and lost to Spokane 4-3.
“We played better,” Hartsburg said. “We played a smarter game tonight. We were better positioning wise, had more support for the puck and we skated. We kept the pressure on for most of the night. We bounced back after a little adversity early. They scored on their first shot, which maybe was a little reminiscent of (Friday) night. But we stayed with it and got a better game going.”
Maxwell put the finishing touches on the game, tipping a Tochkin centering feed out of the air and past Bosch 6:53 into the third.
Silvertips 5, Warriors 1
Moose Jaw100—1
Everett221—5
First Period — 1, Moose Jaw, Howden 23 (Frazee, Suer), 1:32. 2, Everett, de la Lande 2 (Cumiskey, MacDonald), 12:31. 3, Everett, Langkow 19 (Harper, Murray), 18:20. Penalties — Smith, Moose Jaw (tripping), 5:51; Kornelsen, Moose Jaw (checking from behind), 8:11.
Second Period — 4, Everett, Maxwell 28 (Tochkin, Froese), 8:04 (pp). 5, Everett, MacDonald 3 (Gudas, Cumiskey), 18:16. Penalties — McIlrath, Moose Jaw (tripping), 0:52; Atkinson, Moose Jaw (holding), 7:27; Smith, Moose Jaw (fighting), 10:35; Theriau, Everett (fighting), 10:35.
Third Period — 6, Everett, Maxwell 29 (Tochkin), 6:53. Penalties — McCrea, Everett (tripping), 11:58; Edwards, Moose Jaw (fighting), 15:14; Rissanen, Everett (fighting), 15:14; Kornelsen, Moose Jaw (tripping), 19:31.
Shots on goal — Moose Jaw 7-10-10 — 27. Everett 11-10-6 — 27. Power-play opportunities — Moose Jaw 0 of 1. Everett 1 of 5.
Goalies — Moose Jaw, Glover 8-6-1-2 (14 shots, 11 saves), Bosch (13 shots, 11 saves). Everett, Heemskerk 19-10-1-1 (27 shots, 26 saves).
A — 6,207.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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