Everett, Wash.
Published: Thursday, March 27, 2008

Familiar frustration for Silvertips

Tips on brink of being swept out of playoffs for fifth year in a row Everett outshoots Spokane -- for the first time all season -- and has three more power plays than the Chiefs, but the resulting goal isn't enough to change the result.

By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer

 EVERETT -- The sounds of sticks banging against the boards in frustration echoed throughout Comcast Arena as the Everett Silvertips filed off the bench and into the tunnel at the end of Wednesday night's game.

The Tips knew the magnitude of the situation they find themselves facing -- a mountain so tall as to be nearly unsurmountable.

Everett's season now hangs by the thinnest of threads after falling 4-1 to the Spokane Chiefs in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

The Tips now trail 3-0 in the best-of-seven series, and nothing short of a miracle will see Everett move on to the second round.

"We've got a big hole to climb here," said Everett right wing Dan Gendur, who scored Everett's goal but also committed a critical turnover that led to Spokane's opening goal. "We've won four straight before. We've just got to stay positive and take it one game at a time."

Levko Koper, Ondrej Roman, Drayson Bowman and Judd Blackwater scored and Dustin Tokarski made 28 saves in net for Spokane, which can sweep the series with a victory in Friday's Game 4 at Comcast Arena.

"It's a great feeling" Koper said. "If they would have won they would have been right back in it, so to win this one is just a big load off our back and just shows how much dominance we've had in this series so far."

Meanwhile, Everett finds itself one loss away from being eliminated from the playoffs in the first round for the first time in franchise history. With a loss Friday the Tips would also depart the playoffs with four consecutive defeats for the fifth straight year.

And Everett faces nearly impossible odds to survive the round. Only once in the Western Hockey League's 41 years has a team overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. That came in 1996 when these same Spokane Chiefs rallied to defeat the Portland Winter Hawks in the opening round.

"At the start we were gripping our sticks a little bit tight, which was a little bit understandable," Gendur said. "We're down 2-0 and needed a victory to get back in the series. But then again it's not over until it's over. Look at what the Boston Red Sox did to the New York Yankees a few years back. We need efforts from everybody to get back in the series."

There were noticable differences in Everett's play in Game 3. Everett outshot Spokane 29-23 after being outshot 89-49 combined in Games 1 and 2. It was the first time in 11 games this season -- regular season and playoffs -- that the Tips outshot the Chiefs. Everett also had five power plays to just two for Spokane, reversing that trend. As a result the Tips were still in it late, trailing just 2-1 with five minutes remaining.

Unfortunately for the Tips, there was also one glaring similarity: Everett's inability to find the net, which rendered any improvement in the Tips' game null. The Tips have been outscored 13-4 in the series.

"It was our best effort of the series," Everett coach John Becanic said. "I thought we hemmed them in, forced them to turn pucks over, which they didn't do in the first two games. I thought we broke the puck out a lot easier. We just struggled to bury goals. We're back to where we were in October when we couldn't score. It's nine goals in the last nine games and one goal is not enough to win in the playoffs.

"But I think if we come out with the same effort on Friday we win the game."

Although Everett played a better game, mistakes put the Tips in a 2-0 hole. Koper scored on a short-handed breakaway after Gendur's giveaway 7:15 into the game, then Roman scored 2:09 into the second period after Everett goaltender Leland Irving kicked a bad rebound straight out front after a shot from the blue line by David Rutherford.

Gendur pulled the Tips within one at 13:49 of the second, firing a shot from the slot past Tokarski after Zach Hamill bore in on goal. But Bowman then scored on a rebound with 4:40 remaining in the third to seal it. Blackwater added a late empty-net goal to produce the final margin.

"We were more opportunistic tonight than we were in the first two games," Spokane coach Bill Peters said. "In the first two games I thought we generated more offense on a consistent basis. Tonight they were very good defensively, made some changes to their lines and provided us some different issues. But we were able to capitalize on a couple big mistakes."

Slap shots: Irving finished with 19 saves. ... Everett made two changes to its lineup. Right wing Eric English and defenseman Tyler Kieffer were included while right wing Tyler Skauge and defenseman Chris de la Lande were healthy scratches. ... The Tips also shuffled their top three lines. Shane Harper moved onto the top line with Hamill and Gendur, while Clayton Bauer dropped down to play with Zack Dailey and Kyle Beach. ... Spokane used the same lineup it used in Games 1 and 2.

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