KENNEWICK — The Everett Silvertips completed a sweep of their three weekend games Sunday night, beating the Tri-City Americans 4-2 at the Toyota Center to win for the fifth time in the past six games.
The line of Tyler Maxwell, Kellan Tochkin and Josh Winquist again showed its strength, accounting for two second-period goals, and Clayton Cumiskey’s breakaway goal midway through the third period helped clinch the victory for the Silvertips.
The Silvertips moved into a tie for third place with Tri-City and Seattle in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference and, with 26 points, also moved into a three-way tie with the Americans and Thunderbirds for second in the U.S. Division behind Portland (41 points).
Markus McCrea poked a rebound past Tri-City goaltender Drew Owsley 6:26 into the game to give the Silvertips a 1-0 lead, and McCrea had an assist on Cumiskey’s goal in the third period.
That goal was huge because it restored Everett’s two-goal lead less than two minutes after the Americans had cut the score to 3-2 on Jordan Messier’s shot from the left circle past Everett goalie Kent Simpson.
Just as important, if not moreso, were Simpson and the Silvertips’ penalty kill.
Simpson stopped 37 of Tri-City’s 39 shots and the Silvertips killed six of seven penalties against an Americans team whose power play ranked third in the WHL. The Silvertips killed two penalties in the third period, including one with less than four minutes remaining when the Americans pulled their goalie to apply extra pressure.
Leading 1-0 after McCrea’s first-period goal, the Maxwell-Tochkin-Winquist line made its statement in the second period.
Set up by a strong forecheck and a feed into the slot from Winquist, Maxwell beat Owsley on the stick side for a 2-0 Silvertips lead with 13:40 remaining in the second period. It was Maxwell’s 17th goal this season.
Less than three minutes later, however, the Americans clicked on their power play when Adam Hughesman’s wrist shot beat Simpson to make the score 2-1.
The Silvertips killed another penalty — including 36 seconds of four-on-three play — before Brennan Yadlowski’s shot from the point trickled past Owsley and Tochkin poked it into the net. It was Tochkin’s 11th goal this season and his seventh in the past five games.
That goal restored the Silvertips’ two-goal lead before Messier made it 3-2 with his goal six minutes into the third period.
Less than two minutes later, Cumiskey split two Tri-City defenders and deked Owsley with a forehand-to-backhand move before shooting the puck between the goalie’s legs.
Silvertips 4, Americans 2
Everett121— 4
Tri-City011—2
First period—1, Everett, McCrea 1 (Suer, Theriau), 6:26 (pp). Penalties_Shinniman, Tri-City (tripping), 1:56; Shinniman, Tri-City (hooking), 4:35; Maxwell, Everett (slashing), 11:40; Dow, Tri-City (checking from behind), 18:17.
Second period—2, Everett, Maxwell 17 (Winquist), 6:20; 3, Tri-City, Hughesman 14 (Shinniman, Schmidt), 9:28 (pp); 4, Everett, Tochkin 11 (Winquist, Yadlowski), 17:34. Penalties— Suer, Everett (tripping), 1:06; Morden, Everett (delay of game), 7:48; Tochkin, Everett (roughing), 13:14; Shinnimin, Tri-City (slashing), 13:14; Suer, Everett (cross checking), 14:41; Birkholz, Everett (roughing), 18:55.
Third period—5, Tri-City, J. Messier 14 (Reddick, Stebner), 6:00; 6, Everett, Cumiskey 2 (McCrea), 7:50. Penalties_ Everett, Yadlowski (delay of game), 8:39; Everett, Stanfield (hooking), 16:14.
Shots on goal—Everett 9-8-6-23. Tri-City 8-14-17-39. Power-play opportunities—Everett one of three. Tri-City one of seven.
Goalies_Everett, Simpson, 9-6-1-3 (39 shots, 37 saves). Tri-City, Owsley 9-8-0-1 (23 shots, 19 saves).
A—3,510.
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