EVERETT – The Everett Silvertips got right to the point Wednesday night.
Everett scored three goals from the point in a nine-minute span, and the Silvertips defeated the Spokane Chiefs 4-1 Wednesday night in a Western Hockey League game.
Before an Everett Events Center crowd of 4,519, the Silvertips took full advantage of an off night by Spokane goaltender Jim Watt. Ivan Baranka and Tyler Dietrich scored power-play goals on shots from the point late in the first period, and Randy King scored his first WHL goal from the point early in the second period, staking Everett (17-8-3-2) to a 3-0 lead.
“The game had kind of a Wednesday-night feel to it,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “We were just fortunate on those first two goals. You take those shots 100 times in other games and they don’t go in. They just found their way to the net tonight.”
The killer goal was Dietrich’s, a one-timer from the right point that flew over Watt’s glove with 2.6 seconds remaining in the first period, giving Everett a 2-0 advantage.
“I heard the fans and the kids chanting five, four, three, and the puck was coming my way, so I just knew I had to wind up and get something on net,” Dietrich said. “So thanks to them.”
Spokane coach Al Conroy, whose team dropped to 10-15-4-1, said Dietrich’s goal was the turning point of the game.
“That was huge,” Conroy said. “Being down 1-0 is one thing. But to give up a power-play goal with that little time left is a real kick in the butt.
“I thought we outplayed them, but they got those two power-play goals and we were back on our heels after that,” Conroy added. “We needed a couple of saves to keep us in it and unfortunately we didn’t get them.”
Torrie Wheat added his team-leading 11th goal of the season, Zach Hamill had two assists and Michael Wall made 24 saves in goal for the Tips, who have struggled against teams with losing records this season.
“That was kind of the talk, how we get geared up for the big teams and slip up against the teams lower in the standings,” Dietrich said. “It really just has to do with us, it’s got nothing to do with the other teams. Every team that comes into this building is going to play hard. There’s four teams that are in last place in divisions in this league, but by no regard does that mean there’s four bad teams in this league. We’ve just got to be ready and tonight we were.”
Chad Klassen scored a consolation goal and Watt finished with 16 saves for Spokane.
Everett scored on a pair of laser beams in the first period, both on the power play. First, Baranka blasted a shot from the center point through traffic to make it 1-0 at 15:15 with his fourth goal of the season. Then with 2.6 seconds to play, Dietrich one-timed a shot from the right point past Watt, making it 2-0 with his 10th of the season.
Everett padded its lead 3:44 into the second period. Derek Lewis won a draw back to King, whose routine shot from the right point somehow found its way past Watt, making it 3-0.
Wheat put the game out of reach at 2:30 of the third period, one-timing a shot into the top corner after a nice feed from behind the net by Alex Leavitt.
Klassen spoiled Wall’s shutout bid with 7:36 remaining, squeezing a shot past Wall from a difficult angle for his 13th of the season.
Slap shots: Constantine received a $250 fine from the league for his game misconduct at Portland last Friday. … Everett center Mark Kress was held out off the last two periods because of nagging bruises. … Spokane played without top defenseman Scott Lynch. Lynch has elected to have surgery on a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder and is expected to miss the remainder of the season.
Silvertips 4, Chiefs 1
Spokane001-1
Everett211-4
First Period-1, Everett, Baranka 4 (Hamill, Dietrich), 15:15 (pp). 2, Everett, Dietrich 10 (Baranka, Hamill), 19:57 (pp)
Second Period-3, Everett, King 1 (Lewis), 3:44.
Third Period-4, Everett, wheat 11 (Leavitt), 2:30. 5, Spokane, Klassen 13 (Ryan), 12:24.
Shots on goal-Spokane 10-6-9-25. Everett 10-3-7-20. Power-play opportunities-Spokane 0 of 3. Everett 2 of 5.
Goalies-Spokane, Watt 10-12-2 (20 shots, 16 saves). Everett, Wall 12-7-3 (25 shots, 24 saves).
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