Tri-City hands Silvertips ninth straight loss

Published 10:53 pm Saturday, December 10, 2011

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips’ 2011-12 Western Hockey League season already has been one characterized by struggle and turmoil.

The last thing they needed was a reminder of just how tough times have become. Unfortunately, Saturday night marked yet another low point in what’s becoming a lost season for Everett.

The Silvertips dropped their ninth straight game, falling 5-1 to the Tri-City Americans at Comcast Arena. The losing streak is the longest in the franchise’s nine-season history, surpassing the eight-game skid suffered in January 2009.

The Tips knew they faced a bumpy road as they underwent the rebuilding process. Yet, Everett still held out hopes of eking out a playoff berth and keeping its streak alive of making the playoffs in every season.

However, those hopes are now swirling down the drain. Everett (5-21-0-5) not only has the worst record in the WHL, the Tips find themselves 10 points out of playoff position — and the season hasn’t even reached its midway point.

“It’s adversity, and we’re facing a ton of it,” Everett coach Mark Ferner said. “It’s frustrating. I’m sure the guys are frustrated, I’m sure not a lot of them have gone through something like this. This is the time where we need to pull together and become a team.”

Tri-City used a third-period spurt to heap more misery on the Tips. It was a close contest after two periods with the Americans leading just 2-1. But Patrick Holland scored twice in the third as Tri-City pulled away.

“We really didn’t give much up (in the third period), and that was most important,” Tri-City coach Jim Hiller said. “Our guys make plays eventually — we know that about our team. But you have to make sure the other guys don’t get an opportunity to make plays. That’s been the maturity of this team. We’re taking a lot of pride in not giving up much and understanding sooner or later someone will make a play for us.”

Adam Hughesman, Brian Williams and Brendan Shinnimin also scored for Tri-City (24-7-0-0), which maintained its three-point lead atop the Western Conference standings. Eric Comrie had a quiet night in goal for Tri-City, picking up the win with a tidy 21-save performance.

JT Barnett scored the lone goal for Everett. Kent Simpson finished with 31 saves for the Tips.

Saturday’s game followed a familiar script. Everett played its opponent tough through two periods and was still in it heading into the third. But the Tips have struggled mightily during third periods, getting outscored 53-20 this season. Everett has been outscored 17-2 in third periods during the losing streak.

A struggling power play was the culprit that sparked Everett’s third-period meltdown Saturday. The Tips finished 0-for-4 with the advantage, and Everett rarely was able to create a scoring chance. The Tips had a power play early in the third period with a chance to tie it, but spent the entire two minutes skating back to their own end to retrieve the puck following rapid Tri-City clears.

Just 18 seconds after that power play was over the puck was in the back of Everett’s net. Holland carried the puck into the Tips zone on the left, drove toward the net and banked a backhander off Simpson’s skate and in at the near post, giving the Americans the all-important two-goal advantage at 5:16.

“We just need to respond in a positive way when bad things happen,” Ferner said. “It just seems right now our group is waiting for something bad to happen instead of going out and dictating, paying attention to detail and playing a simple game. That’s the way we need to be.”

The Americans wrapped it up on the power play at 11:27, Shinnimin roofing a shot from the side of the net. Holland polished it off at 15:46, firing a shot under Simpson following a scramble around the net.

Slap shots

Everett played without its captain, Ryan Murray. Murray, who just returned to the lineup Friday after missing seven weeks because of a sprained ankle, left Saturday to attend Canada’s tryouts for the World Junior Hockey Championships. … Tips winger Cody Fowlie faces a probable suspension after picking up a major penalty and game misconduct for checking from behind on Tri-City defenseman Michal Plutnar late in the game. … Tri-City was missing two key defensemen as Zach Yuen and Mitch Topping both sat out for undisclosed reasons. With those two out, winger Justin Feser, the team’s third-leading scorer, spent the final two periods filling in on defense.

Americans 5, Silvertips 1

Tri-City113—5

Everett010—1

First Period—1, Tri-City, Hughesman 22 (Shinnimin, Ryckman), 17:23. Penalties—Grayson, Everett (interference), 5:13; Grist, Tri-City (tripping), 12:01.

Second Period—2, Everett, Barnett 7 (Fowlie, Birkholz), 2:05. 3, Tri-City, Williams 4, 18:54. Penalties—Bittner, Everett (holding), 5:42; Feser, Tri-City (delay of game), 11:52; Burns, Everett (cross checking), 14:23.

Third Period—4, Tri-City, Holland 8, 5:16. 5, Tri-City, Shinnimin 14 (Rankin, Hughesman), 11:27 (pp). 6, Tri-City, Holland 9 (MacMaster, Dow), 15:46. Penalties—Dallman, Tri-City (high sticking), 2:58; Morden, Everett (hooking), 10:26; Stromwall, Tri-City (roughing), 12:25; Harrison, Everett (roughing), 12:25; Ryckman, Tri-City (roughing), 12:59; Fowlie, Everett (major-checking from behind-game misconduct), 17:14.

Shots on goal—Tri-City 10-14-12—36. Everett 8-6-8—22. Power-play opportunities—Tri-City 1 of 5. Everett 0 of 4.

Goalies—Tri-City, Comrie 11-3-0-0 (22 shots, 21 saves). Everett, Simpson 4-16-0-3 (36 shots, 31 saves).

A—5,081.

Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.