Tips trip up Portland again

EVERETT — Shayne Barrie made what appeared to be a curious move following Friday night’s game between the Everett Silvertips and Portland Winter Hawks.

After shutting out Portland 3-0, his first career WHL shutout, the Everett goaltender tossed his stick over the glass to an awaiting fan while he was accepting his prize for earning the game’s first star.

Did Barrie really just give away the stick he used during his first shutout?

“I didn’t use that one tonight, that was an old one,” explained Barrie, who stealthily switched sticks before going back onto the ice to receive his accolades. “It was an old stick, I don’t need it anymore, there weren’t any saves left in it so I gave it away.”

Barrie — and his stick, which remains safely put away — led the Tips, stopping all 22 shots he faced. Jesse Burt, Byron Froese and Graham Potuer scored the goals for Everett (14-10-3-0), which continued its mastery over Portland. The Tips have won 13 straight against the Winter Hawks, dating back to Oct. 5, 2007.

However, the Tips didn’t look anything like the team that dominated Portland 7-1 and 5-2 when the Winter Hawks visited Comcast Arena last week. Everett looked lethargic and played sloppy, and the Tips were fortunate Portland’s finishing was off the mark.

“We were just OK,” Everett coach John Becanic said. “We had good goaltending and we scored enough to win.

“These games against Portland, everyone expects them to be easy games because of the last two,” Becanic added. “We knew they would be better. They’re rested and had a week to prepare. So, we’ll take our two points. At this time in the year you don’t care how you win, you just want to make sure you’re winning.”

Fortunately for Everett, Barrie was on his game. Barrie was at his sharpest during the second period and the first half of the third, when Everett’s defense experienced breakdowns and Portland applied pressure. And when the Winter Hawks bore down on goal, Barrie did a good job closing out and cutting down the angles, forcing the opposition to shoot wide.

The shutout’s been a long time coming for Barrie, who turns 19 on Sunday. He had appeared in 37 games over three seasons before blanking an opponent.

“It’s a relief,” Barrie said about finally putting a notch in the shutout column. “It’s the first one in a while, it’s been a few years since I got my last shutout (when playing midget hockey).

“I thought I played well,” Barrie added. “I’ve got to give credit to the guys in front of me making some huge blocks. They let me see all the pucks and that made my job pretty easy making saves, and if the puck was laying in front they were clearing rebounds.”

Becanic was surprised to learn it was Barrie’s first career shutout, but was quick to praise the feat.

“He deserved it,” Becanic said. “He made it look real simple tonight, he wasn’t fighting the puck. He didn’t have to do much in the first, but in the second when we were a little sloppy he made some big saves, then really kept us in the game in the third when they applied a little bit of pressure. He was our best player tonight, for sure.”

Kurtis Mucha finished with 24 saves in goal for Portland (7-20-0-0), which lost its sixth straight.

Everett took the lead 3 minutes, 16 seconds into the game. Paul Van de Velde’s diagonal pass released Burt on a breakaway, and Burt beat Mucha with a nice move to make it 1-0. The Tips nearly made it 2-0 late in the period, but Mike Alexander’s shot that deflected past Mucha bounced off the post.

Portland had several golden opportunities to tie it up in the second period, but when given an open look at goal, the Winter Hawks continuously fired wide. That allowed the Tips to double their lead at 10:17. Kellan Tochkin, behind the Portland net, fed a pass out front to Froese, and Froese managed to slip his shot under Mucha to make it 2-0.

Portland continued to apply the pressure in the third period, but the Tips put it away ay 9:19. Kyle Beach had the puck poked off his stick as he was entering the offensive zone, but Potuer stepped in and snapped a shot into the top corner from the blue line to give Everett a three-goal advantage.

Slap shots: Everett welcomed Beach back to the lineup. Beach was unavailable for Wednesday’s 2-1 loss at Tri-City because he was playing for Team WHL at the Canada-Russia Challenge. … Portland played without enforcer Tayler Jordan. Jordan was serving the first game of a two-game suspension picked up for his game misconduct Saturday in a 6-2 loss at Seattle.

Silvertips 3, Winter Hawks 0

Portland000—0

Everett111—3

@5. NHL box :First Period — 1, Everett, Burt 2 (Van de Velde), 3:16. Penalties — Sohor, Everett (delay of game), 6:30; Beach, Everett (holding), 11:51.

Second Period — 2, Everett, Froese 6 (Tochkin, Maxwell), 10:17. Penalties — Ponich, Portland (fighting), 16:56; Beach, Everett (fighting), 16:56.

Third Period — 3, Everett, Potuer 4 (Beach), 9:19. Penalties — Gabriel, Portland (roughing), 10:37; Hutt, Portland (checking from behind), 14:25, Hunt, Everett (hooking), 17:59; Beach, Everett (interference-unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00.

Shots on goal — Portland 4-8-10 — 22. Everett 9-9-9 — 27. Power-play opportunities — Portland 0 of 3. Everett 0 of 2. Goalies — Portland, Mucha 5-14-0-0 (27 shots, 24 saves). Everett, Barrie 7-6-2-0 (22 shots, 22 saves). A — 5,543.

Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog