Chiefs score 4 goals in third period, stun Silvertips 6-4

EVERETT — There’s something about the Spokane Chiefs that gives the Everett Silvertips fits.

They’re the only team in the Western Hockey League that seems to have figured out Everett.

Spokane scored four unanswered goals in the third period Saturday night, stunning the Tips with a 6-4 come-from-behind victory at Xfinity Arena.

Everett has lost just twice in regulation through 17 games this season. Both of those came at the hands of the Chiefs.

“I really like the dynamics of their team, but somehow we find a way,” Spokane coach Don Nachbaur responded when asked the secret to beating Everett. “Whether it’s our structure, whether it’s the way we play — we scored goals tonight and we didn’t try to play like them, we tried to play our game, and I think our game was good enough to win.”

Adam Helewka had two goals and two assists, and Markson Bechtold scored the go-ahead goal with less than four minutes remaining as Spokane (8-5-3-0) broke the Tips’ hearts for the second time in 18 days at Xfinity Arena. The Chiefs scored with 13 seconds remaining when the teams played Oct. 22 to win 5-4.

Colton Bobyk, Calder Brooks and Jackson Playfair also scored for the Chiefs, while Tyson Verhelst made 21 saves to earn the win in goal.

Brayden Low, Patrick Bajkov, Logan Aasman and Nikita Scherbak scored for Everett (12-2-2-1), which had a six-game winning streak snapped. Austin Lotz finished with 25 saves in net for the Tips.

Everett seemed in good position, holding a 4-2 lead going into the third period. However, despite being down two goals, the Chiefs had given the Tips trouble throughout the game with their forecheck. Then Everett, the least-penalized team in the league, was uncharacteristically undisciplined in the third period, handing Spokane four power plays. The Chiefs converted twice with the advantage to tie it, then Bechtold redirected a whipped centering pass from Riley Whittingham past Lotz with 3:39 remaining for what proved to be the game-winner.

“I think we weren’t prepared to do what we needed to do in the third,” said Everett coach Kevin Constantine, who pinpointed Scherbak’s holding penalty 37 seconds into the period as setting the tone.

“Then we made a penalty-killing mistake and gave them an easy goal, and that’s all they needed for life,” Constantine added. “If you can salt away the first 10 minutes of the third period, then you’re OK. After that we looked a little fatigued. There were a lot of individual mistakes that to me smelled a little bit like three-games-in-four-nights fatigue.”

Not only is Spokane the only team to beat the Tips in regulation, Everett’s last loss also came against the Chiefs. In between, the Tips won six straight and outscored their opponents 23-7. So, Spokane seems to have found Everett’s number.

“I respect Spokane’s organization,” Constantine said. “I respect the job they’ve been able to do over the years, I respect Don Nachbaur as a coach. They always work hard, they always hang in there, they always continue to compete. We can always expect a Spokane team to give us a game.”

After the teams traded goals in the first period, the Tips received fantastic finishes from Bajkov and Aasman to take control of the scoreboard early in the second. Spokane controlled the game the rest of the period and pulled within one on Bobyk’s one-time blast, but Scherbak finished off a great passing move in transition late in the period to seemingly stem the tide.

But the Tips got caught in the undertow in the third period. Everett began the period on the power play, but that was nullified by Scherbak’s penalty. When Spokane got on the power play Helewka was left wide open at the back door on the rush, converting Whittingham’s feed to get the Chiefs within one at 1:59.

Noah Juulsen’s kneeing penalty, his second penalty of the period, gave the Chiefs another power play, and Spokane converted again at 10:02 to tie it, Brooks sweeping the puck home in front after Helewka batted it his direction.

The Chiefs completed the turnaround with Bechtold’s goal at 16:21. Then for good measure Playfair put away a loose puck in front of the net 35 seconds later to end any thoughts of an Everett recovery.

“One thing I’ll give our team, we may not be the most-talented team, but we work and we compete, and tonight was a good example of not giving up,” Nachbaur said. “We had some tough circumstances with a lot of penalties that were called and we had to battle through that, and we got some breaks in the third by getting on the power play. So it was all good.”

Slap shots

Everett was without forwards Remi Laurencelle and Gunnar Wegleitner, who each missed their second straight game. Laurencelle suffered an ankle injury during Wednesday’s 6-3 victory over Red Deer, and although he finished out the game he was rested this weekend. Wegleitner remained out with the flu. With winger Dawson Leedahl a long-term absentee because of a knee injury, Everett used defensemen Carter Cochrane and Jordan Wharrie as forwards. … Spokane welcomed two players back to the lineup as forward Mitch Lipon returned from an upper-body injury and defenseman Tamas Laday returned from a two-game suspension handed down by the league for a kneeing major penalty. The Chiefs were also without forward Kailer Yamamoto, who was away playing for the U.S. at the U-17 World Hockey Challenge.

Chiefs 6, Silvertips 4

Spokane 1 1 4 — 6

Everett 1 3 0 — 4

First Period—1, Spokane, Helewka 9 (Fram), 16:38. 2, Everett, Low 4 (Stadnyk, Betker), 19:09. Penalties—Fiala, Spokane (interference), 4:51; Cochrane, Everett (high sticking), 10:01; Brooks, Spokane (high sticking), 10:50; Helewka, Spokane (charging), 20:00.

Second Period—3, Everett, Bajkov 6 (Scherbak, Juulsen), 4:49. 4, Everett, Aasman 2 (Fonteyne), 6:37. 5, Spokane, bobyk 1 (Helewka), 9:21. 6, Everett, Scherbak 11 (Bauml, Bajkov), 16:27. Penalties—Davis, Everett (high sticking), 8:15; Whittingham, Spokane (holding), 8:38; Sozanski, Spokane (checking to the head), 19:12.

Third Period—7, Spokane, Helewka 10 (Whittingham, Fram), 1:59 (pp). 8, Spokane, Brooks 7 (Helewka), 10:02 (pp). 9, Spokane, Bechtold 2 (Whittingham, Stewart), 16:21. 10, Spokane, Playfair 5 (Brooks, Fiala), 16:56. Penalties—Scherbak, Everett (holding), 0:37; Juulsen, Everett (boarding), 6:23; Bobyk, Spokane (checking to the head), 6:52; Juulsen, Everett (kneeing), 9:06; Low, Everett (tripping), 10:55; Elynuik, Spokane (hooking), 12:16; Brooks, Spokane (tripping), 13:33; Nikolishin, Everett (embellishment), 13:33.

Shots on goal—Spokane 13-8-10—31. Everett 10-8-7—25. Power-play opportunities—Spokane 2 of 6. Everett 0 of 7.

Goalies—Spokane, Verhelst 2-1-0-0 (25 shots, 21 saves). Everett, Lotz 9-2-1-1 (31 shots, 25 saves).

A—5,635.

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