Silvertips collapse, lose 7-5 to Winterhawks

PORTLAND -- The Everett Silvertips dropped a heartbreaker Tuesday night.

The Portland Winterhawks scored three goals during a two-minute span late in the third period, coming from behind to defeat the Tips 7-5 in a crazy contest.

Everett led 4-1 early in the second period, and after Portland tied it, the Tips regained the lead early in the third. But Brendan Leipsic scored his fourth goal of the game on the power play with 3 minutes, 51 seconds remaining, then Troy Rutkowski scored 40 seconds later to give Portland the lead.

Taylor Leier added two goals, including the insurance goal with 1:53 remaining as Portland (23-4-1-0) won its seventh straight and 19th of its past 20. Brendan Burke earned the win in goal with 19 saves.

Manraj Hayer, Dawson Leedahl, Kohl Bauml, Ty Mappin and Trent Lofthouse scored for Everett (11-19-0-2), which hasn't won at Portland since January 2010. Reid Petryk added three assists and Austin Lotz made 33 saves in goal for the Tips.

After giving up a three-goal lead in the second, Everett recovered to regain the lead 2:08 into the third when Lofthouse converted a breakaway after being sprung free by Petryk.

The Tips held the lead for 14 minutes, but Everett took a penalty and Portland took advantage, Leipsic converting a feed from Nicolas Petan. It was Portland's third power-play goal of the game.

Then Roukowski scored the winner seconds later, his slap shot through traffic taking a deflection past Lotz. Leier clinched it when his shot eluded Lotz following an Everett turnover.

Portland opened the scoring on the power play 8:15 into the game when Leier redirected Tyler Wotherspoon's shot past Lotz to make it 1-0.

But Everett struck back with two goals in a minute late in the first period. First, Hayer poked a rebound under Burke at 18:37 following Lofthouse's shot off the rush. Then Leedahl scored at 19:25, finishing off a nice feed from Petryk at the back door.

The Tips continued their barrage early in the second, scoring twice in the first three minutes to go ahead 4-1. Bauml converted a feed from Leedahl at 1:46, then Mappin put home a rebound at 2:46.

But then Leipsic went on a barrage of his own, scoring three times in 10 minutes to tie it back up. He got his first at 8:44 on a power-play feed from Seth Jones. Then he converted a breakaway at 16:55. Finally, he finished off a give-and-go with Petan at 18:37 to make it 4-4.

Winterhawks 7, Silvertips 5

Everett 2 2 1 -- 5

Portland 1 3 3 -- 7

First Period--1, Portland, Leier 10 (Wotherspoon, Jones), 8:15 (pp). 2, Everett, Hayer 6 (Lofthouse, Winquist), 18:37. 3, Everett, Leedahl 2 (Petryk, Mueller), 19:25. Penalties--Cox, Everett (hooking), 7:05; Oslanski, Everett (fighting), 15:45; De Champlain, Portland (fighting), 15:45; Betker, Everett (fighting), 19:52; Mahon, Portland (fighting), 19:52.

Second Period--4, Everett, Bauml 10 (Leedahl, Petryk), 1:46. 5, Everett, Mappin 4 (Stadnyk, Oslanski), 2:46. 6, Portland, Leipsic 17 (Jones, Wotherspoon), 8:44 (pp). 7, Portland, Leipsic 18, 16:55. 8, Portland, Leipsic 19 (Petan, Jones), 18:37. Penalties--Pouliot, Portland (cross checking), 3:40; Adam, Everett (interference), 7:02; Soumelidis, Everett (fighting), 16:18; De Champlain, Portland (fighting), 16:18; Petryk, Everett (roughing), 19:19.

Third Period--9, Everett, Lofthouse 6 (Petryk, Adam), 2:08. 10, Portland, Leipsic 20 (Petan, Pouliot), 16:09 (pp). 11, Portland, Rutkowski 7 (Pouliot, De Champlain), 16:49. 12, Portland, Leier 11 (Bjorkstrand), 18:07. Penalties--Mueller, Everett (interference), 8:40; Oslanski, Everett (hooking), 14:28.

Shots on goal--Everett 8-10-6--24. Portland 8-12-20--40. Power-play opportunities--Everett 0 of 1. Portland 3 of 5.

Goalies--Everett, Lotz 3-10-0-1 (40 shots, 33 saves). Portland, Burke 8-3-1-0 (24 shots, 19 saves).

A--3,704.