Published: Saturday, March 22, 2008
Silvertips drop Game 1 of playoff series
By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer
SPOKANE -- Two things need to happen for the Everett Silvertips to upset the Spokane Chiefs in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.
First, Everett needs to play with what coach John Becanic described as "emotional control." Second, Tips goaltender Leland Irving needs to come up big.
Friday night Everett came up empty on both counts.
Spokane scored on each of its first three power plays, Irving was yanked early in the second period and the Chiefs cruised past the Tips 5-2 in Game 1 at Spokane Arena.
"Well, so much for our first priority of discipline," Everett coach John Becanic said with an ironic laugh. "The first 10 minutes I thought we were real sharp. Five-on-five we were ready, I was very pleased with our readiness to play the game. But penalties were the difference."
Drayson Bowman scored twice on the power play and the Chiefs finished 4-for-8 with the advantage. Three of those power-play goals -- by Bowman, David Rutherford and Judd Blackwater -- came 5 minutes, 18 seconds apart in the first period, staking the Chiefs to a comfortable 3-0 lead that was never threatened.
Chris Bruton also scored and Dustin Tokarski stopped 26 shots in net for the Chiefs, who knew how important it was to win Game 1.
"It's real important due to the fact you work hard all year to get home ice and you want to take advantage of that," Spokane coach Bill Peters said. "We did that here tonight, now the challenge is to do it again 24 hours later."
Game 2 is tonight in Spokane.
Jonathan Harty had a goal and assisted on Matt Ius' goal to lead Everett. Irving finished with 15 saves on 19 shots before being replaced by Shayne Barrie. Barrie stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced.
"Emotional control" was the buzzword surrounding Everett's practices heading into the playoffs as the Tips looked to put their discipline issues behind them.
However, Everett gave Spokane eight power plays while earning just three themselves. Two of the first-period penalties that led to Chiefs goals were taken behind the play.
"We definitely didn't have emotional control tonight," Harty said. "We took some stupid penalties and they definitely cost us. I think a key to this series is staying out of the box and we definitely didn't do that tonight."
And Everett's vaunted penalty kill wasn't there to bail the Tips out. Since the team first began play in 2003, Everett has had one of the WHL's best penalty-killing units, and the Tips finished the season ranked fourth in the league. But Everett's penalty kill, which faltered down the stretch, continued its struggles Friday.
It doesn't help when the goaltending isn't up to speed. Irving was sharp heading into the playoffs, but three times he was beat clean on shots from the top of the circle.
"But for the one goal, three of them were bad goals on our goalies," Becanic said of Everett's penalty-killing woes. "The one was a good goal, and even that one by Rutherford was on (Dane) Crowley's and (Lukas) Vartovnik's sticks, either guy could have cleared and they were both casual. The other three were just straight shots. Yeah, there were screens, but there can't be any holes."
Becanic said Irving will start tonight's game.
The Tips actually played well five-on-five in the first period, but Spokane received three power plays and converted all three to take a commanding 3-0 lead.
The first came at 12:03 when Bowman wristed a shot from the right circle through a screen and through Irving to open the scoring. Then, just 49 seconds later, the Chiefs scored again, this time Rutherford out-battling Crowley and Vartovnik for the puck in front, then putting it around Irving. Spokane made it 3-0 at 17:21 when Blackwater fired a slap shot from the left circle that beat Irving to the near post.
Everett had a brief glimmer when, just 12 seconds into the second period, Ius blew a slap shot past Tokarski on the rush from the right circle.
However, Spokane quickly restored its three-goal lead as Bruton mirrored Ius' goal at the other end, sending Irving to the bench in favor of Barrie.
Everett again cut the deficit to two when Harty put in a rebound on the power play 5:19 into the third period. However, the Chiefs sealed the win with their fourth power-play goal, with 8:18 remaining, when Bowman beat Barrie with a shot from the same spot as his first goal.
Slap shots: Everett welcomed defenseman Taylor Ellington back to the lineup. Ellington missed the final 21 games of the regular season because of a fractured bone in his foot. Ellington's return meant both teams were at full strength. ... Chris de la Lande made Everett's lineup as the sixth defenseman, getting the nod ahead of Tyler Kieffer.
Nick Patterson's Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog
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