KAMLOOPS, B.C. – No offense? No problem for the Everett Silvertips.
Missing the majority of its top offensive players, Everett found a way to score anyway, and the Silvertips earned their 50th victory of the season with a 4-1 decision over the Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday night.
Mike Alexander scored his first career WHL goal, Zach Hamill, Brandon Campos and Dane Crowley also scored, and goaltender David Reekie stood tall with 20 saves for the depleted Silvertips (50-11-1-2), who were playing without four of their top six forwards.
The game also marked the WHL debut for Kellan Tochkin, Everett’s first-round pick in the 2006 bantam draft who was brought in to help fill the player void, as well as the first career WHL points for Matt Ius, another call-up who recorded two assists.
Ray Macias scored and Dustin Butler made 17 saves in goal for Kamloops (38-21-3-1), which continues to falter. The former B.C. Division leaders have now lost seven straight.
Everett’s lineup was a shadow of its normal self. Key forwards Ondrej Fiala (knee injury) and Kyle Beach (at the Canada Winter Games) didn’t make the trip, while Peter Mueller (unspecified) and Moises Gutierrez (head) sat out with minor injuries.
Those four scored 92 of the Tips’ 214 goals going into the game.
With left wing Brennan Sonne (spleen) and defenseman Taylor Ellington (neck) also left home with injuries, Tochkin and fellow 1991-born player, defenseman Jeff Regier, were last-minute call-ups.
Despite the missing offense, Everett grabbed the lead at 2 minutes, 14 seconds of the second period. Regier’s shot from the point deflected off traffic, and Hamill was there to put in the loose puck to make it 1-0.
Kamloops, undergoing an injury crisis of its own which includes leading goal scorer Reid Jorgensen, tied it on the power play at 7:43 when Macias wristed a shot that beat Reekie.
Everett regained the lead with a power-play goal of its own at 10:47, Campos tipping in the puck from in close off a pass from Dan Gendur.
Alexander gave Everett the all-important two-goal lead 2:50 into the third period when the defenseman, playing as a forward, converted Ius’ pass to make it 3-1. Crowley later added an empty-net goal with 14 seconds remaining.
Silvertips 4, Blazers 1
Everett022-4
Kamloops010-1
First Period-No goals. Penalties-Nixon, Kamloops (checking from behind), 1:09; Crowley, Everett (tripping), 5:01; Delaronde, Kamloops (checking from behind), 11:24.
Second Period-1, Everett, Hamill 28 (Smyke, Regier), 2:14. 2, Kamloops, Macias 27 (Bartley, Stretch), 7:43 (pp). 3, Everett, Campos 9 (Gendur, Vartovnik), 10:47 (pp). Penalties-Crowley, Everett (interference), 2:37; Everett bench (too many men, served by Campos), 7:11; Dowd, Kamloops (interference), 9:48; Dunstall, Kamloops (high sticking), 19:37.
Third Period-4, Everett, Alexander 1 (Ius, Burt), 2:50. 5, Everett, Crowley 8 (Ius), 19:46 (en). Penalties-Hamill, Everett (interference), 3:17; Ellerby, Kamloops (delay of game-unsportsmanlike conduct), 11:20; Harty, Everett (hooking), 14:56; Kraus, Kamloops (tripping), 17:15.
Shots on goal-Everett 5-7-9-21. Kamloops 8-7-6-21. Power-play opportunities-Everett 1 of 7. Kamloops 1 of 5.
Goalies-Everett, Reekie 21-6-0-0 (21 shots, 20 saves). Kamloops, Butler 31-16-1-0 (20 shots, 17 saves).
A-4,496.
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