Everett — It was fitting that Wednesday night’s game between the Everett Silvertips and Tri-City Americans was decided in that hockey crapshoot otherwise known as the shootout.
After all, the third period felt a little like being in a casino: Pull the lever, watch the wheels spin and hope luck is on your side.
The third period turned into a war of penalty attrition as both teams wondered whose number was going to come up next, and the Tips finally cashed out 3-2 at Comcast Arena in the final game before today’s trade deadline.
Kyle Beach scored the lone goal in the shootout and Leland Irving saved all three Tri-City attempts. It was Everett’s second consecutive shootout victory over Tri-City as the Tips beat the Americans 4-3 Sunday in Kennewick.
But it was a complete mystery which way this one would go as the penalties came fast and furious in the third. A total of seven penalties were called in the period, both teams had lengthy five-on-threes, and it was something of an upset that the game wasn’t decided on one of those power plays.
“I was worried it was going to be an official who decided the outcome of the game, and it could have been for us,” Everett coach John Becanic said. “I’m sure (Tri-City coach Don Nachbaur) wasn’t pleased with the calls either. It’s a 2-2 game and there just seemed to be some marginal calls that were made, for both teams.”
Said Nachbaur: “I think it was a battle of the brain. We had a lot of reason to say we’re getting (hosed), but we put ourselves in those positions, too, and we had to overcome it. I thought our penalty kill was really strong at the end.”
Even the resurfacing work was a bit of a roll of the dice as the shootout was delayed several minutes because the Zamboni kept missing a spot.
But it worked out in the end for the Tips. Dan Gendur continued his strong play for Everett, scoring both goals in regulation as the Tips (23-19-0-2) won their third straight. Gendur now has 12 points in his last six games.
“I’ve been working a little bit harder, using my body a little bit more,” Gendur explained. “And it’s always nice to be 100 percent healthy as well.”
Irving had a solid effort in goal, stopping 24 shots.
“I’m really happy for Irv because this was a battled game, a game that wasn’t an easy win,” Becanic said. “We had to kill some penalties and he was a huge part of our penalty kill tonight, making some big saves when he had to. That’s the difference between winning and losing, having your goalie play like that against a real good hockey team.”
Jason Reese and Colton Yellow Horn scored and Chet Pickard stopped 28 shots for Tri-City (28-10-1-2), which lost its fourth straight.
There was plenty of foreshadowing of the third period as the Americans, down 2-1, began with 3 minutes, 17 seconds of power play time thanks to a major penalty for boarding called on Everett’s Clayton Bauer toward the end of the second period. Then when Jesse Burt took a holding penalty, Tri-City had a full two minutes of five-on-three to tie it up,
It happened at 2:05 when Reese handled the puck in the left slot and although he lost control, the puck slid right to Yellow Horn to put in from in close, tying it up at 2-2.
From there it was back-and-forth penalties, with little even-strength play. Everett got its chance late with a lengthy five-on-three of its own, but the Tips were unable to create any quality scoring chances and it went to overtime and eventually a shootout.
“They gave us an invitation there with two minutes to go with the five-on-three and our power play was awful,” Becanic said. “We just didn’t work hard enough and didn’t make obvious plays. We had a chance to win a game in regulation and be two points closer to Tri.”
Pickard made some excellent saves early, but probably would have liked Everett’s first goal back. Gendur got the angle on Americans defenseman T.J. Fast, held him off, then fired a shot that got through Pickard to make it 1-0 7 minutes, 35 seconds into the game.
Gendur then scored again on the power-play at 14:55. He took the puck to the center point and let fire with a quick wrist shot that Pickard never saw, the puck flying into the top corner to make it 2-0.
Tri-City pulled a goal back at 16:05. The puck popped free from a scrum against the boards into the right circle, with Reese sweeping in and rifling a shot past Irving to cut the lead to 2-1.
Slap shots: The trade deadline is at 2 p.m. today. … Bauer also received a game misconduct for his boarding major against Tri-City defenseman Jarrett Toll. Bauer is subject to a possible suspension for the infraction. … Everett defenseman Graham Potuer sat out his first game of the season. Potuer suffered a bruised sternum early in Sunday’s 4-3 shootout victory at Tri-City and is listed as day to day. Also, center Zack Dailey missed his sixth straight with a groin injury. However, right wing Matt Ius was back after missing a game with an ankle injury. … Tri-City played without center Shaun Vey, right wing Taylor Procyshen and defenseman Brett Plouffe, all because of concussions. However, left wing Radek Meidl made his first appearance for the team after spending the first half of the season in his native Czech Republic.
Silvertips 3, Americans 2 (SO)
Tri-City1010—2
Everett2000—3
Everett won shootout 1-0
First Period—1, Everett, Gendur 13 (Hamill, Kieffer), 7:35. 2, Everett, Gendur 14 (Hamill, Beach), 14:55 (pp). 3, Tri-City, Reese 17, 16:05. Penalties—Stoklasa, Tri-City (roughing), 0:15; Meidl, Tri-City (boarding), 12:46; Macaulay, Tri-City (tripping), 14:01; Karamnov, Everett (elbowing), 19:25.
Second Period—No goals. Penalties—Beach, Everett (high sticking), 8:00; Yellow Horn, Tri-City (elbowing), 13:02; Bauer, Everett (major-boarding-game misconduct), 18:17.
Third Period—4, Tri-City, Yellow Horn 27 (Reese, Toll), 2:05 (pp). Penalties—Burt, Everett (interference), 0:56; Crowley, Everett (holding), 3:31; Stoklasa, Tri-City (holding), 8:26; Reese, Tri-City (hooking), 12:04; Kieffer, Everett (hooking), 15:12; Macaulay, Tri-City (slashing), 17:08; Yellow Horn, Tri-City (hooking), 17:48.
Overtime—No goals. Penalties—None.
Shootout—Everett 1 (Ius NG, Beach G, Harty NG); Tri-City 0 (Reese NG, Yellow Horn NG, Meidl NG).
Shots on goal—Tri-City 7-9-10-1—27. Everett 16-6-5-3—30. Power-play opportunities—Tri-City 1 of 7. Everett 1 of 8.
Goalies—Tri-City, Pickard 24-7-1-2 (30 shots, 28 saves). Everett, Irving 17-15-0-2 (26 shots, 24 saves), Barrie (1 shot, 1 save).
A—4,738.
Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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