EVERETT – His family in the stands, his brother on the opposing bench, the game on the line. Brennan Sonne couldn’t have scripted it any better.
And he made sure this script had a happy ending for the Everett Silvertips.
Sonne scored the winning goal in a shootout, and the Silvertips began what they hope is another winning streak by defeating the Calgary Hitmen 2-1 Wednesday night at the Everett Events Center.
In an exciting contest that became a goaltending showcase between Everett’s Leland Irving and Calgary’s Dan Spence, it was Sonne who finally found the decisive crack. On the final shot of the shootout, Sonne – whose family drove down from Maple Ridge, B.C. – to see him play against his younger brother Brett, made a fake with a leg kick before slipping the puck between Spence’s legs to win the game.
“I’ve got to pinch myself, I can’t believe that just happened,” Sonne said. “I got a shootout chance in Regina and didn’t score there, and we’ve got so many talented guys on the team I was fortunate to get another chance. That’s a move I’ve been practicing on Leland for a while and fortunately it went in, against no greater foe, eh?”
Taylor Ellington scored during regulation and Irving made 35 saves for Everett (19-2-0-1), which bounced back with a victory after seeing its 13-game winning streak halted Saturday in Seattle.
Karl Alzner scored and Spence stopped 32 shots for the Hitmen (15-9-0-2), who brought their A game against the Tips.
“I thought we played really well,” Calgary’s leading scorer Ryan White said. “They’re the top team in the nation right now and we came in here and worked hard, did all the little things right and had a lot of fun out there tonight. We worked hard for that point, it’s just too bad we couldn’t come out with two.”
Calgary, the first team from a strong Central Division that Everett’s faced this season, gave the Tips everything they could handle. The Hitmen created several quality scoring chances, but Irving always positioned himself in the right spot to deny them.
“That was one of the toughest games I’ve ever had to play in this league,” Irving said. “You’ve got to give them credit. They’re a good hard-working team and their offensive systems are very effective. They use good spatial relationships, they’re able to get open and the guys with the puck are finding those guys for pretty good scoring chances.”
But while the victory took the sting away from Saturday’s loss at Seattle, it also masked some problems. Everett gave up far more quality scoring chances than normal, took more penalties than Calgary, looked subpar on the power play and at times was outworked. If not for Irving, the Tips would have their first losing streak of the season.
“I would have thought that if anything we would have played hard,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “You can always excuse something that’s related to skill play. But to lack passion and energy … We gave the guys Sunday and Monday off just to make sure it wasn’t an energy thing, so there was no fatigue factor. There should be no complacency factor because we just got beat pretty soundly. So, it was very frustrating for me.”
The first period had plenty of action, with Calgary peppering the Everett goal. But it was the Silvertips who emerged with a 1-0 lead when Ellington’s slap shot from the left point beat Spence to the far-upper corner at 13:06.
Everett then got itself into a penalty bind late in the second period and the Hitmen took advantage. On a five-on-three power play, Alzner and White traded passes on the perimeter until Alzner one-timed a shot drifting in from the center point, tying it up at 15:47.
Everett picked up its play in the third period, with the trio of Zach Hamill, Brandon Campos and Ondrej Fiala standing out. But the Tips were unable to find a breakthrough. Then in overtime Irving had to make a pair of stops to preserve the tie and force a shootout.
Slap shots: Everett was shut out on the power play for the first time in 18 games, going 0-for-5. The Tips had scored at least two power-play goals in each of their last five games. … Everett again played without centers Zack Dailey (day-to-day with a twisted ankle) and Damir Alic (out for about a month with a separated shoulder), necessitating the use of right wings Jesse Smyke and Jesse Burt at center. … Center Jonathan Milhouse, who was reassigned earlier this week, will join the Chicago Steel of the United States Hockey League.
Silvertips 2, Hitmen 1 (SO)
Calgary0100-1
Everett1000-1
Everett won shootout 1-0
First Period-1, Everett, Ellington 3 (Doyle Calla), 13:06. Penalties-McMillan, Calgary (fighting), 2:23; Harty, Everett (fighting), 2:23; Plante, Calgary (tripping), 3:55; Hamill, Everett (interference), 4:28; Campos, Everett (hooking), 12:05; Figren, Calgary (interference), 13:00; Fiala, Everett (roughing), 14:14; Kelner, Calgary (fighting), 17:54; Beach, Everett (fighting), 17:54; Thoring, Everett (high sticking), 19:29.
Second Period-2, Calgary, Alzner 4 (White), 15:47 (pp). Penalties-Dupont, Calgary (hooking), 10:36; Burt, Everett (roughing), 14:00; Thoring, Everett (hooking), 15:18.
Third Period-No goals. Penalties-Hengen, Calgary (high sticking), 1:56; Beach, Everett (tripping), 16:59; Figren, Calgary (tripping), 18:29.
Overtime-No goals. Penalties-None.
Shootout-Calgary 0 (Figren NG, Petterson NG, White NG); Everett 1 (Mueller NG, Hamill NG, Sonne G).
Shots on goal-Calgary 14-10-8-4-36. Everett 10-6-14-3-32. Power-play opportunities-Calgary 1 of 7. Everett 0 of 5.
Goalies-Calgary, Spence 13-7-0-2 (32 shots, 31 saves). Everett, Irving 15-2-0-1 (36 shots, 35 saves).
A-5,302.
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