EVERETT — Former Everett Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine was fond of saying it wasn’t how teams finished, but how they started that usually determined success in hockey.
Tuesday night at Comcast Arena Constantine’s theory came to fruition, much to his former team’s chagrin.
For two periods Everett was unable to match the jump shown by the Prince Albert Raiders, and by the time the Tips found their top gear it was too late as Everett fell 2-1.
Prince Albert came out flying from the opening puck drop, taking the initiative on the ice and a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard. Everett finally picked it up in the third period, pulling one goal back and creating several golden opportunities to tie it. But the Tips were unable to get another puck past Raiders goaltender Dustin Butler, who had several fantastic saves late in the game to preserve Prince Albert’s victory.
“We shouldn’t have played like that in just the third period, we should have played like that the whole game,” Everett center Zach Hamill said. “But all credit to them for the way they played tonight, they deserved the two points.”
Justin Bernhardt and Max Brandl scored the goals for Prince Albert (17-30-3-2), which snapped a three-game losing streak.
“I thought we played really well,” Prince Albert coach Bruno Campese said. “Our five-on-five play was fairly disciplined and we were doing the little things right. We were getting pucks clean our of our zone and our forecheck was decent tonight. We had some success down low as well.”
Dan Gendur scored the lone goal for Everett. Leland Irving stopped 23 shots in net for the Tips.
It was a costly loss for Everett (29-22-0-2), which is jockeying for playoff position. Everett still leads idle Seattle by five points for fifth place in the Western Conference, but the T-birds have five games in hand, and the two points dropped against a probable non-playoff team will be difficult to replace.
And it could have been avoided had the Tips not waited until the third period to reach full speed.
“We weren’t playing our normal game,” Hamill said. “We weren’t being physical, weren’t going to the puck and we just didn’t play our style. They came out hard, all credit to them for the way they played tonight. They beat us to every puck tonight.
“It’s a tough two points to give up, but we have to look forward from here.”
Even with a subpar first two periods, the Tips might have come away with something if not for a bad goal given up in the final minute of the second period. Everett defenseman Graham Potuer’s pass behind his own net went right to Prince Albert’s Dustin Cameron. Cameron got the puck to Brandl in the slot, and Brandl got a shot under Irving with 28.2 seconds remaining to give the Raiders the all-important two-goal advantage.
Then after Gendur scored at 17:19 of the third, putting a shot in the corner after Hamill’s steal at center ice and set-up pass, the Tips had all kinds of glorious chances. However, both Lukas Vartovnik and Potuer missed the net when given an opening, and Butler made fine saves to deny Vartovnik and Matt Ius.
“We didn’t finish when we had chances to finish,” Everett coach John Becanic said. “And I thought our D turned too many pucks over tonight. The second goal we gave it right to them. Our power play had some great chances, they just couldn’t finish, and Butler was pretty good.”
Prince Albert grabbed the lead at 9:47 of the first period. On the power play Matt Robertson fired a slap shot from the center point. Bernhardt, cutting across the slot, tipped the puck over Irving to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead.
Everett should have tied it late in the period when, on the power play, Shane Harper stickhandled his way around Butler only to slide his shot wide.
Prince Albert continued to be the initiator in the second. The Tips nearly escaped without any further damage as Irving made tremendous saves on Nathan Deck and Brandl, and Zak Stebner rapped the post with a shot three-on-one. But when Brandl did eventually find the net, it turned out to be the game winner.
Slap shots: Everett once again was without three key players — right wing Kyle Beach (concussion), center Vitali Karamnov (bruised shoulder) and defenseman Taylor Ellington (broken foot) — because of injury. … Prince Albert also had three players — center Bryce Lamb (mononucleosis), left wing Jordan Trach (concussion) and defenseman Blaine Tendler (concussion) — because of physical ailments.
Raiders 2, Silvertips 1
Prince Albert110—2
Everett001—1
@5. NHL box :First Period—1, Prince Albert, Bernhardt 17 (Robertson, White), 9:47 (pp). Penalties—Robertson, Prince Albert (hooking), 6:52; Harty, Everett (holding), 8:20; Harper, Everett (hooking), 15:38; Hewson, Prince Albert (tripping), 18:12.
Second Period—2, Prince Albert, Brandl 14 (Cameron), 19:31. Penalties—Hamill, Everett (boarding), 8:03; Voracek, Prince Albert (roughing), 10:15; Crowley, Everett (roughing), 10:15; Hamill, Everett (interference), 14:16; Brandl, Prince Albert (tripping), 16:39; Hewson, Prince Albert (interference), 19:47.
Third Period—3, Everett, Gendur 22 (Hamill), 7:19. Penalties—Hewson, Prince Albert (roughing), 5:37; Mistelbacher, Everett (hooking), 6:24; Stebner, Prince Albert (roughing), 11:05; Gendur, Everett (roughing), 11:05; Stebner, Prince Albert (high sticking) 18:58.
Shots on goal—Prince Albert 5-11-9—25. Everett 10-9-15—34. Power-play opportunities—Prince Albert 1 of 5. Everett 0 of 6.
Goalies—Prince Albert, Butler 12-19-2-1 (34 shots, 33 saves). Everett, Irving 21-18-0-2 (25 shots, 23 saves).
A—5,323.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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