EVERETT — The Spokane Chiefs conducted a clinic Friday night on how to defend a one-goal lead.
Spokane shut the game down in the third period, giving the Everett Silvertips no chance at a comeback, and the Chiefs departed Comcast Arena with a 2-0 victory.
Mac Engel stopped all 23 shots he faced, Dominik Uher scored a first-period power-play goal, and Mitch Holmberg added a late empty-netter for Spokane (33-15-4-2), which locked the third period up tighter than Fort Knox, turning a 1-0 lead into an insurmountable one.
“That’s why they’re one of the top teams,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “They just compete and work so hard, and we couldn’t get anything done offensively.”
Kent Simpson made 37 saves to keep Everett (23-24-4-4) in it, but the Tips still had their string of games earning at least a point snapped at six.
Spokane’s third-period performance could be used as an instructional video on how to hold a lead on the road. The Chiefs kept Everett pinned in its own zone, giving the Tips no opportunities to create anything off the rush. When Everett was finally able to get the puck into Spokane’s end, the players had to go off on a line change because they used so much energy just getting out of their own end. After two evenly-played periods, the Chiefs outshot the Tips 14-3 in the third to salt the game away.
Spokane finally clinched it with 1 minute, 9 seconds remaining, Holmberg putting the puck into an empty net just 10 seconds after Simpson had left his crease for an extra attacker.
“With the lead I thought we managed the ice really well,” Spokane coach Don Nachbaur said. “We didn’t give them any odd-man rushes, or even let a rush develop. I thought we were pretty solid in behind the puck most of the night.”
The Chiefs also received a nice bounce-back game from Engel, who seems to have Everett’s number. Engel, a 17-year-old rookie being asked to carry the load in the absence of injured No. 1 James Reid, was yanked in the first period of Spokane’s 10-5 loss to Portland on Wednesday after allowing four goals in a span of 1:12. But Engel was solid Friday, doing his best work in the first period when the game was still scoreless.
Engel’s shutout was his second of the season, both coming against the Tips.
“I thought he responded right, because we pulled him early in that game against Portland,” Nachbaur said of Engel. “He was shaky, his confidence was shaken, and I thought this helped him get his confidence back. He made a couple early saves and was strong throughout.”
For his part, Hartsburg was satisfied with the way his team played during the first two periods. And he had nothing but positive things to say about the Chiefs.
“They do the right things with the puck, and their forwards are the hardest-working group of forwards in the league,” Hartsburg said. “There’s nobody who dresses 12 forwards who work that hard. That makes it awful tough. You have to work harder than them to create offense. For our guys tonight in the third period, they couldn’t do that.”
Early on Everett was able to generate some offense. The teams traded good scoring chances throughout the first, but a big collision worked to Spokane’s advantage late in the period. The Chiefs’ Collin Valcourt came out of the penalty box just as Everett’s Scott MacDonald was steaming up the ice, and Valcourt laid MacDonald out with a huge hit. Everett’s Clayton Cumiskey responded to the hit by jumping Valcourt, putting the Chiefs on the power play.
Spokane converted a mere five seconds later when, after a faceoff win, Uher tipped in Jared Cowen’s shot from the point, giving the Chiefs a 1-0 lead at 12:20.
It remained 1-0 through two periods, though both teams had scoring chances in the second. Simpson denied Spokane’s Tyler Johnson on a short-handed breakaway, and Engel stopped Everett’s Parker Stanfield on a two-on-one feed. The Chiefs also twice drew iron.
Spokane then dominated play in the third, and the Chiefs put it away with 1:09 remaining. Levko Koper lifted the puck out of the zone and into the path of Holmberg, who scored into the empty net unopposed.
Chiefs 2, Silvertips 0
Spokane 1 0 1 — 2
Everett 0 0 0 — 0
First Period—1, Spokane, Uher 15 (Cowen, Johnson), 12:20 (pp). Penalties—Kramer, Spokane (fighting), 7:03; McCrea, Everett (fighting), 7:03; Valcourt, Spokane (kneeing), 13:09; Valcourt, Spokane (fighting), 15:15; Cumiskey, Everett (instigator-fighting-10-minute misconduct), 15:15; Friesen, Everett (tripping), 18:05.
Second Period—no goals. Penalties—Rissanen, Everett (roughing), 1:25; Mort, Spokane (interference), 3:37; Harrison, Everett (roughing), 3:37; Baldwin, Spokane (tripping), 7:40; Suer, Everett (slashing), 15:59; Bardaro, Spokane (interference), 18:29.
Third Period—2, Spokane, Holmberg 14 (Koper), 18:51 (en). Penalties—Mort, Spokane (interference), 11:49.
Shots on goal—Spokane 13-12-14—39. Everett 10-10-3—23. Power-play opportunities—Spokane 1 of 4. Everett 0 of 4.
Goalies—Spokane, Engel 4-6-2-1 (23 shots, 23 saves). Everett, Simpson 17-17-4-4 (38 shots, 37 saves).
A—6,112.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.
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