Surging Silvertips top Winterhawks for 8th straight win

PORTLAND, Ore. — Carter Hart wasn’t perfect Saturday.

But the Everett goaltender finished with 42 saves as the Silvertips upended the first-place Portland Winterhawks 2-1 before 9,578 fans at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

It was the eighth straight victory for Everett (18-12-1-1, 39 points) as the Tips moved within three points of Portland (20-9-0-1, 41 points) for the division lead.

“The energy was better tonight,” Everett head coach Dennis Williams said in a post-game phone interview. “It was a great environment with 9,500 fans all cheering against you .”

Like he did Wednesday in Everett, Hart kept the Winterhawks off the board for the first two periods while the Tips built a 2-0 lead.

John Ludvig broke up the shutout when he cut the deficit to one with a goal at 2:48 in the third period.

It was Portland’s Teddy Bear Toss so the fur flew before a 10-minute delay as the bears were cleaned up.

But that was all for Portland despite the Winterhawks firing 20 shots at Hart in the final period. Everett killed a 5-on-3 power play later in the third.

The Winterhawks finished with a 43-25 shot advantage for the contest.

“I would like to see us play a little bit more aggressive in the third,” Williams said. “We kind of sat back and we want to continue that mindset of winning the third period. But the guys did a great job. It’s not easy playing the game we did (Friday) night and then traveling down here and on to Tri-City. It’s a character-building weekend.”

Everett took the lead in the second period. Patrick Bajkov had to be helped off the ice following a knee-on-knee hit from Alex Overhardt, and the Tips were awarded a power play at 5:50.

Losing their leading scorer seemed to jump-start the Tips. Just 10 seconds after Bajkov left the ice, Connor Dewar beat Portland goalie Cole Kehler with a wrister from the left circle six minutes into the second period.

Then Bryce Kindopp added his seventh goal of the season when he tipped in Jake Christiansen’s shot just 22 seconds later as the Tips pushed their lead to 2-0 at 6:22.

“Both goals used good net-front presence with tips and screens,” Williams said.

Bajkov returned before the end of the second period.

Everett outshot Portland 12-9 in a scoreless opening period.

The Tips killed off all four penalties and were 1-for-4 on the power play.

Kehler finished with 23 saves in a losing effort.

Everett concludes its three-game weekend at 5:05 p.m. Sunday when the Tips take on the Tri-City Americans at the Toyota Center.

Silvertips 2, Winterhawks 1

Everett 0 2 0 – 2

Portland 0 0 1 – 1

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Sutter Evt (checking to the head), 0:34; Kolle Por (hooking), 4:15; Texeira Por (charging), 6:32; Kolle Por (hooking), 18:07.

2nd Period-1, Everett, Dewar 12 (Davis, Fonteyne), 6:00 (PP). 2, Everett, Kindopp 7 (Christiansen, Sutter), 6:22. Penalties-Overhardt Por (kneeing), 5:50; Onyebuchi Evt (major-fighting), 7:02; Ludvig Por (major-fighting), 7:02; Onyebuchi Evt (game misconduct), 7:15; Vitelli Evt (slashing), 13:24.

3rd Period-3, Portland, Ludvig 2 (Overhardt, Mannek), 2:48. Penalties-Dewar Evt (slashing), 6:05; Hart Evt (delay of game), 7:05; Dewar Evt (embellishment), 19:26; Blichfeld Por (interference), 19:26.

Shots on Goal-Everett 12-9-4-25. Portland 9-14-20-43.

Power Play Opportunities-Everett 1 / 4; Portland 0 / 4.

Goalies-Everett, Hart 13-3-0-1 (43 shots-42 saves). Portland, Kehler 17-6-0-1 (25 shots-23 saves).

A-9,578