Tips edge Americans to take 1-0 lead in conference finals

EVERETT — It took another U.S. Division team to finally solve the Tri-City Americans.

The Everett Silvertips never trailed as they defeated the Tri-City Americans 3-2 on Friday before 5,181 fans at Angel of the Winds Arena in Game 1 of the best-of-seven Western Conference finals.

It was the first postseason loss for Tri-City, which swept its way through Kelowna and Victoria in the B.C. Division playoff bracket. The loss was also just the second in the last 16 regular and postseason games combined for the seventh-seeded Americans.

“It’s always in the back of your head that they haven’t lost yet and they’ve been kind of rolling,” Everett forward Garrett Pilon said. “So the fact we can get this first win is a big thing for our group going into Game 2 (Saturday).”

Pilon, who prior to this season had never been part of a playoff series-winning team, scored twice including the game-winner.

Pilon’s second goal of the game snapped a 2-2 tie late in the second period. Sean Richards collected the puck along the wall and fed Pilon in the slot. Pilon rifled a shot over Patrick Dea’s left shoulder to give Everett a 3-2 lead at 17:12 they never relinquished.

The Tri-City bench argued that a tripping penalty should have been called and the play whistled dead before Richards got the puck.

“It was a missed call,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said. “It has to be called there, a slew-foot trip led directly to a scoring chance. It happens through the course of a game, there’s going to be missed calls, unfortunately that was one that ended up in the back of our net. I don’t think it was a grey area, just an unfortunate one that they missed.”

Everett previously took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission, but Tri-City made short work of it.

The Americans began the second period on the power play and needed just 47 seconds to cut the deficit in half as Morgan Geekie roofed a wrister over Carter Hart from the slot.

Tri-City drew even three minutes later on the power play when an apparent miscommunication led to Hart leaving the puck behind the net. Michael Rasmussen swooped in, collected the puck and tucked it inside the right post before Hart could get back in position. That made it 2-2 at 3:55 in the second period.

“Obviously it was a bit of a layup for Rasmussen,” Everett head coach Dennis Williams. “It doesn’t help that he’s 6-4 or 6-5 and he can do an easy wraparound on it. But what I was real happy with, was that put us on our heels after that goal and we kind of stuck to it. We chipped away and chipped away, and got that third goal. And then in the third period we started playing our game a little bit more and we were making them come the full 200 feet.”

Everett came out strong to begin the first period. Pilon struck just 1:05 into the opening period. A neutral zone turnover created a two-on-one and Pilon’s wrister from the left circle beat Dea up high for the 1-0 lead.

“I think a big start was something we were keying in on going into the game,” Pilon said. “To get a goal in the first two minutes or whatever it was, was a big thing for our group and it was a big confidence boost going into the rest of the game.”

Everett pushed it to 2-0 at 12:03 in the first when Connor Dewar pounced on a poor breakout pass from Tri-City’s Dylan Coghlan deep in the Americans’ zone. Dea saved Dewar’s initial shot, but Dewar flung the puck toward the net from below the goal line, and Tri-City defenseman Jake Bean knocked it into the net.

“We wanted to get the crowd into it early, especially on a special run like this,” Dewar said. “(We wanted) to get the energy and momentum behind us.”

Everett came up empty on its three power-play opportunities. Its best chance on the man advantage came when Kevin Davis hit the post in the second period.

Tri-City entered the game converting postseason power plays at a 47.8 percent clip. The Americans improved on that pace as they finished 2-for-3 on the man advantage Friday.

Hart finished with 24 saves while Dea stopped 30 shots.

Everett finished with a 33-26 shot advantage.

Game 2 begins at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Angel of the Winds Arena.

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Silvertips 3, Americans 2

Tri-City 0 2 0 — 2

Everett 2 1 0 — 3

1st Period—1, Everett, Pilon 7 (Dewar, Sutter), 1:05. 2, Everett, Dewar 5 12:03. Penalties—Sutter Evt (hooking), 6:17; Geekie Tc (high sticking), 9:50; Dewar Evt (charging), 20:00.

2nd Period—3, Tri-City, Geekie 16 (Bean, Dea), 0:47 (PP). 4, Tri-City, Rasmussen 11 3:55 (PP). 5, Everett, Pilon 8 (Sutter, Richards), 17:12. Penalties—served by Fasko-Rudas Evt (too many men), 3:03; Yaremko Tc (tripping), 6:09; Coghlan Tc (slashing), 12:07.

3rd Period—No Scoring. Penalties—No Penalties

Shots on Goal—Tri-City 6-12-8-26. Everett 11-14-8-33.

Power Play Opportunities—Tri-City 2 / 3; Everett 0 / 3.

Goalies—Tri-City, Dea (33 shots-30 saves). Everett, Hart (26 shots-24 saves).

A—5,181