EVERETT – It’s been slow going for Ondrej Fiala since he returned from knee surgery.
The Everett Silvertips left winger hasn’t yet looked like the player who was so effective during the second half of last season and was subsequently picked in the second round of the NHL draft.
Perhaps Friday’s performance finally will turn things around.
Fiala scored the tying goal with less than 11 minutes remaining in regulation, then scored the decider in the shootout, leading the Everett Silvertips to a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. Everett won the shootout 2-1 in seven rounds.
“I still have a little work to do,” Fiala, said about getting back into game shape. “But we had very good work from all the team. From (goaltender David) Reekie to all guys, we did a good job. It was a hard game and we got it done.”
Reekie made 22 saves and turned away six of seven shots in the shootout for Everett (20-2-0-1), which avenged its loss in Seattle last Saturday that ended a 13-game winning streak.
And once again, the home team held serve in the series. Everett is now 13-3-0-1 with one tie all time against Seattle at the Everett Events Center, while being 2-12 against the T-birds on the road.
“It was a very hard game because they beat us last time,” Fiala said. “Against Seattle every time it’s a hard game. It was a full house, the fans were perfect and we got it done.”
Bud Holloway scored and Derek Yeomans made 36 saves in goal for Seattle (10-6-1-6), which is 0-6 in shootouts this season.
Seattle managed to hold Everett’s vaunted power play at bay seven times before Fiala finally found the breakthrough on Everett’s eighth chance. Jason Fransoo’s one-timer from the right circle was blocked by Yeomans. But Fiala, who managed just one goal and one assist in his first six games, found the rebound and backhanded a shot over Yeomans and into the far corner to make it 1-1 with 10:22 remaining in regulation.
“We had to kill way too many penalties, “Seattle coach Rob Sumner said. “It’s tough to figure out we can have that many more penalties than that team in a fairly evenly hard-fought game. Eventually I guess something gives. But I thought we penalty killed hard all night.”
Seattle dominated the remaining minutes in regulation, but Reekie made several key saves to get the game to overtime. Then in overtime Seattle’s Chris Durand took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for shooting at the Everett goal after the whistle, but the Tips were unable to capitalize.
The shootout was an intense affair after Seattle’s Jan Eberle scored with the first shot and Everett’s Brennan Sonne scored with the fourth. Skater after skater stepped up and was either saved or shot wide. But with the 14th shot of the shootout Fiala skated in, pulled the puck to his forehand and fired a shot over a diving Yeomans to end it.
An ill-tempered first period produced no goals, but plenty of acrimony between the teams. The first of two fights in the period occurred just 2:40 into the game, and interspersed were several borderline hits and verbal confrontations.
Tempers settled in the second period, and Seattle took the lead. On an early power play, the T-birds were able to take advantage of a situation when Everett defenseman Jason Fransoo lost his stick. Aaron Gagnon was thus free to feed a pass across the crease to Holloway, who put the puck into the open corner, making it 1-0 at 2:26.
Everett pressed hard in the third period. Peter Mueller had a breakaway attempt that beat Yeomans, but touched off the inside of the post and rolled along the goal line before Yeomans pushed it away. At one point the Tips cobbled together a line containing offensive stars Mueller, Zach Hamill and Kyle Beach in search of the tying goal before Fiala finally tied it.
Slap shots: Everett center Zack Dailey, who’s listed as day-to-day with a twisted ankle, missed his fourth straight game. He joined center Damir Alic (out a month with a separated shoulder) on the scratch list … Seattle dressed seven defensemen, despite having a full complement of 13 healthy forwards.
Silvertips 2, Thunderbirds 1 (SO)
Seattle0100-1
Everett0010-2
Everett won shootout 2-1
First Period-No goals. Penalties-Olson, Seattle (fighting), 2:40; Sonne, Everett (fighting), 2:40; Meidl, Seattle (charging), 4:34; Meidl, Seattle (roughing), 8:22, Campos, Everett (boarding), 8:22; Richard, Seattle (fighting), 8:22; Harty, Everett (instigator-fighting-10-minute misconduct), 8:22; Meidl, Seattle (roughing), 11:33, Thoring, Everett (roughing), 15:49; Hickey, Seattle (unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:11; Potuer, Everett (holding), 18:11; Jackson, Seattle (cross-checking), 20:00.
Second Period-1, Seattle, Holloway 3 (Gagnon), 2:26 (pp). Penalties-Beach, Everett (interference), 0:51; Thoring, Everett (interference), 3:16; Meidl, Seattle (hooking), 6:40; Stamler, Seattle (hooking), 8:24; Olson, Seattle (hooking), 12:21.
Third Period-2, Everett, Fiala 2 (Fransoo, Mueller), 9:38 (pp). Penalties-Je. Schappert, Seattle (slashing), 2:53; Gutierrez, Everett (hooking), 4:59; Jo. Schappert, Seattle (tripping), 8:21; Ellington, Everett (holding), 14:28.
Overtime-No goals. Penalties-Durand, Seattle (unsportsmanlike conduct), 1:58.
Shootout-Seattle 1 (Eberle G, Scott NG, Gagnon NG, Holloway NG, Richard NG, Durand NG, Jo. Schappert NG); Everett 2 (Mueller NG, Sonne G, Campos NG, Hamill NG, Beach NG, Harper NG, Fiala G).
Shots on goal-Seattle 4-8-9-2-23. Everett 11-15-8-3-37. Power-play opportunities-Seattle 1 of 6. Everett 1 of 9.
Goalies-Seattle, Yeomans 8-4-1-4 (37 shots, 36 saves). Everett, Reekie 6-3-0-0 (23 shots, 22 saves).
A-8,069.
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