EVERETT — It wasn’t a victory, but at least it was progress for the Everett Silvertips.
Everett’s play improved from its dismal performance the previous night, but the short-handed Tips suffered another defeat, falling 3-1 to the Tri-City Americans on Saturday night at Comca
st Arena.
The Tips, who added leading scorer Tyler Maxwell to a lengthy scratch list, looked far better organized than in Friday night’s 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the Vancouver Giants. However, goals from Brendan Shinnimin and stellar goaltending from Drew Owsley carried Tri-City pas
t Everett.
“I thought tonight we looked a lot more desperate to play hockey the right way,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “It certainly wasn’t perfect, but we gave ourselves a chance to be in the game because we played smarter. (Friday) night we had lots of energy but played dumb. Tonight we played smart, energetic hockey.
“We’re at the point of the season where we have to play like that every night. Some nights you’ll lose like tonight, but eventually you’ll get rewarded.”
Shinnimin scored the game’s first two goals, then Tyler Schmidt scored a late clincher for Tri-City (22-11-1-1), which is now in a virtual three-way dead heat for first place in the Western Conference with Portland and Spokane.
Owsley finished with 23 saves, including a stunning stop on Josh Winquist early in the third period to maintain Tri-City’s 2-1 lead.
“That was a tough game,” said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller, whose team had lost three of four meetings against Everett going into Saturday. “They didn’t give us much. In the third period with a one-goal lead, I thought that may have been our best. Those are games you like to win on the road, when you’re put to the wall at the end and you’re able to keep the puck out of your net.”
Kellan Tochkin scored the lone goal for Everett (16-18-2-3), which despite its improved performance lost its third straight. Kent Simpson was solid in net for the Tips, making 26 saves.
Everett, which was already missing five players because of international commitments and long-term injuries, played Saturday without Maxwell because of illness. With Tyler Giebel also ruled out, the Tips were forced to dress just 19 players.
“It was a hard-fought effort,” Tochkin said. “It was a lot better than our last two games. It’s mind boggling why we can’t be prepared to play like we did tonight every night. Obviously we’re real disappointed.”
Without Maxwell, who’s scored a team-leading 25 goals, offense was in short supply for the Tips. Everett has scored just twice in three games since the Christmas break, and the Tips now have scored the fewest goals in the WHL.
“I think at this point it’s probably a given that we’re going to have to fight and scrap for goals,” Hartsburg said. “We thought some guys might score more. At this point we’re a team that’s going to have to win a lot of 2-1, 3-2 games. We have to score enough, and we have to have the mindset that we have to be good defensively so we can win the 2-1, 3-2 games.”
An uneventful first period saw Tri-City take the lead 15 minutes, 28 seconds in. A turnover in the neutral zone gave the Americans a rush into the offensive zone, and Shinnimin wristed a shot past Simpson to make it 1-0.
The Americans then doubled their lead 8:57 into the second. Tri-City kept the Tips pinned after an Everett penalty expired, and eventually after several attempts on goal Shinnimin was able to bank the puck in off Simpson to make it 2-0.
Everett got on the board at 16:05. An Everett clear came to Tochkin just as he was coming out of the penalty box. Tochkin played a give-and-go with Clayton Cumiskey, then made a move around Owsley to cut Everett’s deficit to one heading into the third.
The Tips had chances to tie it, none better than early in the third when Everett created chances during a power play. However, Owsley robbed Winquist with a lunging glove save on a rebound to maintain Tri-City’s lead.
The suspense was taken out of the game’s final moments when Everett’s Brennan Yadlowski took a tripping penalty with 1:33 remaining. Schmidt scored on the resulting power play with 50.8 seconds to insure Tri-City’s victory.
Slap shots
With all the players unavailable, Everett gave a WHL debut to 15-year-old center Ryan Chynoweth, the team’s top pick in the past bantam draft. … Tri-City is still without its big trade acquisition, right wing Carter Ashton. Ashton has yet to play for the Americans as he’s representing Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships. … Former Everett player Mark Kress was in attendance. Kress played for the Tips from 2003-06 and was a key defensive forward on two U.S. Division championship teams.
Americans 3, Silvertips 1
Tri-City 1 1 1 — 3
Everett 0 1 0 — 1
First Period—1, Tri-City, Shinnimin 12 (Grist), 15:28. Penalties—none.
Second Period—2, Tri-City, Shinnimin 13 (Sutherland), 8:57. 3, Everett, Tochkin 17 (Cumiskey, Theriau), 16:05. Penalties—Everett bench (too many men, served by Birkholz), 6:08; Tochkin, Everett (checking from behind), 13:51.
Third Period—4, Tri-City, Schmidt 4 (Shinnimin, Reddick), 19:09 (pp). Penalties—Sohor, Tri-City (interference), 3:29; Yuen, Tri-City (tripping), 10:20; Yadlowski, Everett (tripping), 18:27.
Shots on goal—Tri-City 10-8-11—29. Everett 7-7-10—24. Power-play opportunities—Tri-City 1 of 3. Everett 0 of 2.
Goalies—Tri-City, Owsley 19-10-0-1 (24 shots, 23 saves). Everett, Simpson 11-13-2-3 (29 shots, 26 saves).
A—5,213.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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