EVERETT – The race for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs just got a little bit tighter.
The Everett Silvertips saw their edge shrink to a single point after being held to a 2-2 tie by the Tri-City Americans on Friday night in the final home game of the regular season.
Curtis Billsten’s goal midway through the second period salvaged the tie for Everett (33-26-9-2) which, with Portland beating Seattle 2-1, now leads the Winter Hawks by just one point for second place in the Western Hockey League’s U.S. Division.
Everett and Portland are already locked into a first-round playoff matchup, with home ice the only thing left to be resolved. Both teams have two games remaining.
By earning a point Tri-City (25-34-8-3), combined with Spokane’s 3-2 loss at Kootenay, clinched the division’s fourth and final playoff berth.
“They were a pretty desperate team trying to make the playoffs here, and we’re also in a battle for home ice with Portland,” said Everett defenseman Shaun Heshka, who had a goal and an assist. “Getting one point out of this game was a huge point for us. Now we have to go to Tri-City (today) and try to get another two points.”
Before a sold out Everett Events Center crowd of 8,386, Tri-City played with the desperation of a team fighting for its playoff life. When the Tips came out sluggish, it was up to goaltender Michael Wall to keep Everett in the game until the Tips finally started generating some offense. Wall finished with 33 saves, 14 in the first period.
“I think we were on Alaskan time or something, we didn’t wake up until 10 minutes into the game,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “So we’re lucky to get a tie. They kicked our butt in the first period. Then it was a pretty close game after that.”
Kirk Meaver and Jason Beeman scored goals and Carey Price made 23 stops in net for Tri-City.
“I thought we played good tonight,” Tri-City coach Don Nachbaur said. “I don’t think we gave them a whole lot, I thought territorially we held our own. But I thought there was a real good tempo to that game, a playoff-style game.”
Tri-City pushed Everett back on its heels right from the start, and the Americans broke through at 8:32 of the first period. Shane Gimas’ shot from the right point was tipped in front by Meaver, and the puck trickled through Wall, making it 1-0 with Meaver’s sixth of the season.
But the Tips tied it up at 10:03, scoring six seconds into their first power play of the night. Zach Hamill won the draw back to the left point, where Heshka fired a shot through traffic and past Price, tying it at 1-1 with his 12th of the season.
But Tri-City continued to control the action and regained the lead with a power-play goal with 32.6 seconds remaining in the period. Beeman took a nice feed from Shawn Belle while cutting across the slot, then wristed a shot back across the grain and past Wall, making it 2-1 with his 11th of the season.
Everett began asserting itself in the second period, and the Tips tied it up at 10:13. Price had just denied Ryan Blatchford after a nice move in transition, but Heshka got to the loose puck along the right boards, fired it toward the crease while taking a hit, and Billsten tipped it past Price, making it 2-2 with his 13th of the season.
Both teams had good chances for the tiebreaking goal in the third period, but both goaltenders came up with the big stops when necessary. In overtime, Mitch Love and Hamill both had great chances in front only to be denied by Price.
Slap shots: The consequences of Wednesday’s line brawl at the end of Everett’s 4-2 victory over Seattle were handed out by the league Friday. The Tips were fined $500 for their third multiple-fight situation of the season. Seattle was fined $250 for its second multiple-fight situation of the season and T-birds forward James McEwan, who set off the fracas by bowling into Everett goaltender Michael Wall, was suspended indefinitely. … Everett right wing Alex Leavitt was given the night off. Constantine said Leavitt, the team leader in assists, was out sick and may miss sit out the rest of the weekend. However, the Tips did welcome back center Hamill, who missed six of the last nine games with an ankle sprain.
Silvertips 2, Americans 2
Tri-City2000-2
Everett1100-2
First Period-1, Tri-City, Meaver 6 (Gimas, Schneider), 8:32. 2, Everett, Heshka 12 (Hamill), 10:09 (pp). 3, Tri-City, Beeman 11 (Belle, Stoner), 19:27 (pp). Second Period-4, Everett, Billsten 13 (Blatchford, Heshka), 10:13. Third Period-No goals. Overtime-No goals. Shots on goal-Tri-City 15-7-12-1-35. Everett 6-10-6-3-25. Power-play opportunities-Tri-City 1 of 4. Everett 1 of 4. Goalies-Tri-City, Price 23-31-8 (25 shots, 23 saves). Everett, Wall 24-21-8 (35 shots, 33 saves).
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