EVERETT – This time the fireworks weren’t a result of the ill will between the Everett Silvertips and Tri-City Americans.
Instead, the fireworks came courtesy of the Everett offense.
In the final game of an epic trilogy, Everett made its point on the scoreboard, defeating Tri-City 5-0 Wednesday night at the Everett Events Center.
Moises Gutierrez had two goals and two assists and Peter Mueller added a goal and three assists for Everett (43-8-0-2), which won the rubber game of what’s been a heated stretch of three games in eight days against the Americans.
“I think the bad blood was a little overrated from the last game,” Gutierrez said. “It’s not a big secret that we’re not a fighting team. Tonight we just wanted to come out and outplay them on the ice, not worry about fighting.”
Jonathan Harty and Ondrej Fiala also scored for Everett, and Leland Irving made 30 saves in goal for his eighth shutout of the season as the Tips stretched their lead atop the U.S. Division to 23 points over the second-place Americans.
Carey Price, who shut out the Tips 2-0 in Kennwick last Friday, finished with 19 saves for Tri-City (32-19-0-1).
There was significant buildup to Wednesday’s game. Last week’s contests were characterized by bad blood, as Everett was guilty of two illegal hits in the first and Tri-City instigated a brawl at the end of the second. The Americans were without two players, as well as head coach Don Nachbaur, because of suspensions handed down from that second game.
In contrast to those games, the teams were on their best behavior Wednesday – with the exception of a moment in the third period when Tri-City enforcer Aaron Boogaard instigated a fight with Everett’s Kyle Beach – public enemy number one in the Americans’ eyes.
The toned-down nature worked to Everett’s advantage as the Tips were able to play their game unimpeded. Everett was particularly strong in transition, scoring four of its five goals as a result of two-on-one breaks.
“We had some turnovers and Everett’s transition was very good,” said Tri-City general manager Bob Tory, filling in for Nachbaur behind the bench. “I thought our guys worked hard, played fairly disciplined and had some scoring chances – Irving was very good. But when we turned the puck over Everett’s transition game was as good as I’ve seen it.”
Meanwhile, Irving turned in a stellar performance in Everett’s goal. He was particularly strong in the first period, holding the Americans at bay on several occasions with the outcome still in the balance.
“He made some real difficult scoring situations look pretty easy, only because he was on top of his game,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said of Irving. “I thought Tri-City created quite a few scoring chances. Leland was just really good.”
With Irving holding the fort in Everett’s end, the Tips set the script for the night with their first goal 16 minutes, 41 seconds into the game. The Tips created a two-on-one while breaking out of their own zone, Mueller skating the puck into the Americans’ zone on the right. Mueller took the shot himself, sliding the puck along the ice into the far corner to give Everett a 1-0 lead.
That same situation came back to haunt Tri-City all night. In a near instant replay 3:46 into the second period, Brennan Sonne took the puck two-on-one into the zone on the right. But Sonne decided to give it up to Harty, who jumped into the play from his defensive position, and Harty redirected the puck into the far corner to make it 2-0.
Two-on-ones also led to Everett’s third and fifth goals, both scored by Gutierrez. The first came short-handed at 14:18 of the second period. An errant pass by Price set up a two-on-one that was initially closed down, only for Gutierrez to find the loose puck and fire a shot into the top corner of the net. The second goal came at 15:10 of the third, Gutierrez following the pattern by taking the puck into the zone on the right, then blasting a shot that beat Price high to the near post.
“They like to pinch their D a lot,” Gutierrez explained. “A soft chip off the board and we’re gone on two-on-ones all night. We utilize that a lot and exposed their weakness.”
Slap shots: With defenseman Graham Potuer still recovering from wrist surgery, and with fellow defenseman Mike Alexander feeling lingering effects from the concussion he suffered two weeks ago, Everett called up 1991-born defenseman Jeff Regier for his WHL debut. Regier, Everett’s second-round pick in the 2006 bantam draft, picked up an assist for his first WHL point. … In the stands was Regier’s teammate from the British Columbia Major Midget League’s Fraser Valley Bruins, Kellan Tochkin. Tochkin, Everett’s first-round pick in 2006, is leading the BCMML in scoring with 52 points in 29 games. … Also out for Everett was center Zack Dailey, still recovering from a hit taken Saturday against Chilliwack. But right wing Dan Gendur, who was questionable because of the flu, did play. … Because of injuries to defensemen Matt Swaby (ribs), Jarrett Toll (jaw) and Eric Mestery (shoulder), as well as the suspensions of left wing Chris Inglis and right wing Travis Gorman, Tri-City dressed just 17 skaters.
Silvertips 5, Americans 0
Tri-City000-0
Everett122-5
First Period-1, Everett, Mueller 15 (Gutierrez, Fransoo), 16:41. Penalties-Teslyuk, Tri-City (checking from behind), 7:57; Smyke, Everett (hold stick), 13:02; Boogaard, Tri-City (roughing), 16:57; Harty, Everett (roughing), 16:57; Fransoo, Everett (tripping), 19:27; Kaye, Tri-City (boarding), 19:32.
Second Period-2, Everett, Harty 4 (Sonne, Gutierrez), 3:46. 3, Everett, Gutierrez 33 (Mueller), 14:18 (sh). Penalties-Tri-City bench (too many men, served by Vey), 6:14; Reddick, Tri-City (tripping), 7:17; Regier, Everett (boarding), 10:13; Crowley, Everett (boarding), 13:17; Valach, Tri-City (diving), 15:38; Hamill, Everett (hooking), 15:38.
Third Period-4, Everett, Gutierrez 34 (Mueller, Fiala), 0:39. 5, Everett, Fiala 9 (Regier, Mueller), 15:10.
Penalties-Boogaard, Tri-City (instigating-fighting-10-minute misconduct), 4:51; Beach, Everett (fighting), 4:51; Broda, Tri-City (fighting), 8:03; Crowley, Everett (roughing-fighting), 8:03; Valach, Tri-City (tripping), 13:07; Schmidt, Tri-City (unsportsmanlike conduct), 13:07; Hamill, Everett (unsportsmanlike conduct), 13:07; Procyshen, Tri-City (high sticking), 16:20; Procyshen, Tri-City (elbowing), 19:24.
Shots on goal-Tri-City 13-7-10-30. Everett 8-11-5-24. Power-play opportunities-Tri-City 0 of 5. Everett 0 of 8.
Goalies-Tri-City, Price 19-11-0-0 (24 shots, 19 saves). Everett, Irving 27-5-0-2 (30 shots, 30 saves).
A-5,689.
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