Tips tie up Giants

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips went into Thursday night’s game against the Vancouver Giants feeling they had to come away with a win, or else their season was as good as over.

And boy, did the Silvertips play like it.

Everett charged out of the box like a bull seeing red, and the Silvertips never gave the Giants a chance, taking control early and winning 4-0 in Game 4 of their Western Hockey League Western Conference semifinal series.

Before a crowd of 7,192 at the Everett Events Center, Jovan Matic, Torrie Wheat, Martin Ruzicka and Mitch Love all scored their first goals of the playoffs and Jeff Harvey had his third shutout of the postseason for Everett, which tied the series at 2-2. Game 5 is tonight in Vancouver.

"That was a must-win for us," Everett defenseman Love said. "We didn’t want to go down 3-1 and we got the job done. It’s a best-of-three from here on in."

Playing with a sense of urgency from the opening faceoff, Everett scored 2 minutes, 15 seconds into the game, led 2-0 at the 8:16 mark and out-shot Vancouver 12-1 in the first 10 minutes of the game. Vancouver was completely overwhelmed by Everett’s urgency and was never able to respond.

"We got that feeling (of Everett’s urgency) in a big hurry and we got slapped in the face with it," Vancouver coach Dean Evason said. "They wanted the game more than us, they were a desperate hockey club. I didn’t think we played that bad, but they were exceptional."

Everett’s fourth line of Ruzicka, Matic and Michael Wuchterl in particular gave the Silvertips a lift.

The trio had combined for a grand total of one assist in the Silvertips’ previous seven playoff games. But it was that line that put the Silvertips on the board first and that line that scored another crucial goal early in the second period, increasing the lead to 3-0.

"That fourth line got a couple of goals for us, which was nice," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "The thing about the playoffs, you never know. One shift can be as important as 30 shifts and they haven’t gotten a lot of shifts this series, but they came through tonight when they did get a chance to play a little bit."

Harvey wasn’t challenged until the third period, and by that time it was too late. Harvey finished with 26 saves. Michael Wall made two saves in the final 3:50 to preserve the shutout.

Vancouver goalie Aaron Sorochan gave up four goals on 17 shots before being pulled following Everett’s fourth goal at 8:54 of the second period. Todd Ford finished up for the Giants, saving all seven shots he faced.

The Silvertips took the lead 2:15 into the game with the goal coming from an unlikely source. Matic had played in one of Everett’s previous seven playoff games. But skating behind the Vancouver goal, Matic put a pass out front that deflected off the skate of one defender. The puck drifted across the crease and deflected into the goal off the stick of another defender, who was under pressure from Wuchterl. The goal gave Everett a 1-0 lead.

Everett doubled its lead at 8:16 of the first. The Silvertips were putting unremitting pressure on the Vancouver goal when Shaun Heshka’s shot from the point whistled just wide. Curtis Billsten collected the puck and tried unsuccessfully to wrap the puck home. However, Wheat was right on the post for the rebound and although his first try was stopped, his second shot got by Sorochan to make the score 2-0.

Everett increased its lead in the second period. In another sustained stretch of Everett pressure, Ivan Baranka’s shot from the point was saved and with players from both teams hacking away at the rebound, the puck slipped out to Ruzicka all alone in the left slot. Ruzicka backhanded the puck into an open net to make the score 3-0 at 5:45.

The Silvertips received a gift on their fourth goal. Vancouver was on the power play and as it ended, Vancouver defenseman Kevin Seibel had a back pass hop over his stick, presenting Love with a wide open breakaway as he came out of the penalty box. Love beat Sorochan to his stick side to make the score 4-0.

Slap shots: Everett left wing Tyler Dietrich was scratched for the second straight game. Dietrich has not played since taking a hit to the head late in Game 2. His status will be determined on a gamy-by-game basis … Tickets for Sunday’s Game 6 go on sale at 10 a.m. today. Tickets can be purchased online at www.neweratickets.com or by calling 1-800-EEC-TIXX or 425-252-5100. Sunday’s game begins at 6:05 p.m.

Silvertips 4, Giants 0