Three takeaways: Andrusiak caps emotional night on high note

KENT — Bryce Kindopp potted three goals, all on special teams, to record his first career hat trick and power the Everett Silvertips to a 5-2 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday at the ShoWare Center. Click here for the game story.

Here are three takeaways:

Andrusiak puts together successful night

Being back in his old building felt a bit peculiar for Zack Andrusiak. He won’t deny that.

“It was a little weird at first, coming in at this side of the rink,” said Andrusiak, who was dealt to Everett from Seattle 10 days before the trade deadline. “It felt a little bit like training camp. Warmup felt a little bit weird being on that side and being on the other bench, but as the game (went) on I got more and more comfortable and used to it.”

The game progressed similarly. Andrusiak was mostly quiet for the first period and the greater part of the second, but eventually assisted on two of Kindopp’s three goals and emphatically capped his night with an impressive goal, in which the overage forward stole the puck, knifed through Seattle’s zone and tucked it inside the right post for his 35th goal of the season.

Zack shows off his strength with his 35th goal of the season and his 4th point of the night! 💪💪💪💪 pic.twitter.com/PcUB6raTnp

— Everett Silvertips (@WHLsilvertips) February 2, 2019

“It was a pretty emotional goal,” Andrusiak said. “I was pretty fired up, and it felt really good.”

Tilted ice

The Thunderbirds were in full control in the first period, leading shots on goal 14-5 after 20 minutes. One of the only bright spots for Everett was its goaltender, Dustin Wolf, who turned away any promising rebound.

Even after a scoreless first, Williams wasn’t pleased with his team’s showing in the opening period.

“We just came in and disappointed,” Williams said. “I didn’t think we competed. I didn’t think we showed enough respect to them. They came in and were the hottest team in the league for the last two or three weeks. When you challenge your leadership group to be better and your locker room to be better, we were doing a lot of things this week that weren’t getting executed in the first, but in the second and third it was much better.”

Everett was awarded a power play early in the second and quickly made up the difference in shots. By the end of the game, the Silvertips were in full control, outshooting the Thunderbirds 33-17 in the final two periods.

Patterson shows some fight

Max Patterson is one of the bigger Everett players, but he hasn’t demonstrated an overly physical game during his brief tenure with the Silvertips so far.

But Friday, Patterson flashed some fire and passion as he jumped in right away to throw punches at Seattle’s Owen Williams after the Thunderbirds player crunched Martin Fasko-Rudas along the boards.

“I didn’t know that was in him,” Williams said. “To me, that’s just a hockey play. He’s not looking for it, or a stage. That’s just emotions. Then it becomes (as) a team, we can’t be pushed around. In the first I think we were pushed around from a physicality standpoint, with wall battles… but I was proud of (Patterson) there, and I think he just earned a lot of respect from the guys.”

Bonus! Why seven defensemen?

Everett once again suited seven defensemen and just 11 forwards Friday.

“If we don’t have a centerman for the fourth line, we might as well dress seven ‘D’ in case something happens,” Williams said. “Unfortunately we’ve been playing 11-and-7 most of the year.”

That has been a common theme all season long, and until Riley Sutter returns from a week-to-week lower-body injury, it probably will remain.

HORTON’S THREE STARS:

1. Bryce Kindopp: Who else? He notched his first career hat trick, including a short-handed goal that was a huge difference maker.

2. Zack Andrusiak: The former Thunderbirds player chipped in a goal and two assists against his former team.

3. Dustin Wolf: Lost in the shuffle was the 29-save performance from Wolf, who made a number of key saves in the first period to allow Everett to go into the first intermission tied 0-0 despite being outplayed.

Josh Horton covers the Everett Silvertips and AquaSox for The Everett Daily Herald. Follow him on Twitter (@joshhortonEDH) or reach out to him over email (jhorton@heraldnet.com).