EVERETT — First, the Everett Silvertips learned they’d be without their captain indefinitely. Then they suffered yet another defeat at the hands of the Portland Winterhawks.
However, Friday night still brought a point and progress to the Tips, despite their 3-2 overtime defeat at the ha
nds of Portland at Comcast Arena.
The evening began with the Tips revealing before the game that they would be without captain Landon Ferraro, who’s out indefinitely because he requires surgery to repair a sports hernia. The night ended whne Portland’s Riley Boychuk scored with 49 seconds remaining in overtime, keeping the Winterhawks perfect against the Tips this season at 6-0.
Yet the loss was still a step in the right direction for Everett, which played a quality game and earned a point against the team tied for first in the Western Conference.
“It was definitely disappointing losing in overtime, but I thought the boys played real solid tonight,” said Silvertips defenseman Ryan Murray, who will wear the “C” as captain while Ferraro is out. “You couldn’t ask for more from all the guys.”
Murray, at 17, became the youngest captain in Everett franchise history. No other Tips captain has been younger than 19.
“To me there never was a question,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said about handing the captaincy to the youthful Murray. “He’s the most mature kid on our team. He exemplifies what we want to be. He works hard every day, competes hard every day, cares about the team and his teammates. It’s a reward for what he brings to the table for our team every day.”
As for Ferraro, Hartsburg said he didn’t know whether he would be able to return this season.
“It’s too bad for him,” Hartsburg said. “It’s just typical for his year. He struggled so much, then finally he gets his game going and he gets hurt. Not much you can do about it.”
With Ferraro out the Tips played an inspired game. Despite falling behind 2-0, Everett played with determination throughout and pulled even on goals from Jari Erricson and Clayton Cumiskey.
Everett held on in the third period with goaltender Kent Simpson making a series of sterling saves and the Tips nearly won it early in overtime when the puck came to leading scorer Tyler Maxwell with plenty of net to work with. However, Maxwell fired wide, and Portland won it late in OT when Boychuk tapped in Taylor Aronson’s back-door feed.
“It was a tough loss,” Hartsburg said. “The guys obviously feel bad about it, but we battled hard for 64 minutes. We got a point. We certainly would have liked to have had two, but that’s an awful skilled hockey team over there.
“The key for us is consistency,” Hartsburg added. “If we want to get to where we want to be at the end of the year, that game has to be the way we play every night, no matter who we play, where we play or when we play. We’re not going to win every time — we didn’t win tonight — but that’s the type of game we have to play.”
Taylor Peters and William Wrenn scored the regulation goals for Portland (30-14-0-3). For Wrenn it was his first goal in the WHL. Mac Carruth earned the win in net for the Winterhawks, making 30 saves.
Simpson finished with 31 saves in goal for the Tips (18-21-3-4).
Portland took a 2-0 lead midway through the second period. Peters opened the scoring at 13:18 of the first period, finishing off a tic-tac-toe play in transition after Brendan Leipsic forced a turnover in the neutral zone. Wrenn struck at 10:16 of the second, taking a back-door feed from Ty Rattie after pinching in from the point.
Everett responded to Portland’s second goal immediately, scoring 1:42 later. Good work down low resulted in Erricson banging in a rebound on Parker Stanfield’s wraparound attempt. The Tips tied it at 18:17, Cumiskey scoring on a short-handed breakaway.
Portland came on strong in the third, but Simpson came up big on several occasions. He denied Brad Ross on a breakaway, then made a lunging save on Nino Niederreiter in the dying seconds, securing at least a point for Everett.
Slap shots
Ferraro was joined on Everett’s scratch list by defenseman Chad Suer (jaw) and winger Campbell Elynuik (shoulder), who have been out since the Christmas break. … Portland was also without its captain as defenseman Brett Ponich was out with an undisclosed injury. Also out for the Winterhawks were wingers Oliver Gabriel (shoulder) and Tayler Jordan (hernia). … Tips winger Cody Fowlie took an opponent’s helmet to the face in the first period. He returned wearing a full bubble on his helmet.
Winterhawks 3, Silvertips 2 (OT)
Portland 1 1 0 1 — 3
Everett 0 2 0 0 — 2
First Period—1, Portland, Peters 4 (Boychuk, Leipsic), 13:18. Penalties—Rattie, Portland (high sticking), 10:51.
Second Period—2, Portland, Wrenn 1 (Rattie, Cunningham), 10:16. 3, Everett, Erricson 5 (Stanfield, Fowlie), 11:58. 4, Everett, Cumiskey 5, 18:17 (sh). Penalties—Rutkowski, Portland (hooking), 14:27; Walters, Everett (high sticking), 17:56.
Third Period—no goals. Penalties—Ross, Portland (cross checking-10-minute misconduct), 9:07.
Overtime—5, Portland, Boychuk 11 (Aronson, Rattie), 4:11. Penalties—none.
Shots on goal—Portland 8-8-15-3—34. Everett 11-12-5-4—32. Power-play opportunities—Portland 0 of 1. Everett 0 of 3.
Goalies—Portland, Carruth 21-11-0-1 (32 shots, 30 saves). Everett, Simpson 12-14-3-4 (34 shots, 31 saves).
A—5,962.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.
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