KENT — The Everett Silvertips won a game Saturday night, but of far bigger concern for the Tips is the status of their star forward.
Everett winger Nikita Scherbak suffered what appeared to be a serious injury during Everett’s 3-2 shootout victory to the Seattle Thunderbirds. Scherbak, Everett’s leading scorer, had to be stretchered off the ice with an undisclosed injury.
Scherbak’s injury occurred toward the end of the second period. He was trying to slip past Keegan Kolesar’s check along the boards when he was hit, and he immediately went down in pain.
Scherbak remained on the ice while he was attended by both teams’ trainers, and the doctor on call was eventually summoned. After a long delay during which Scherbak moved very little, he was taken off the ice on a stretcher. Initial reports speculated on some sort of leg injury, but he was put into a neck brace before being put on the stretcher.
According to the Silvertips radio broadcast, Scherbak was taken to Valley Regional Hospital. However, before leaving the rink, Scherbak passed movement tests to all his extremities. Reports on the broadcast after the game said Scherbak had been cleared of any head or neck injuries.
Carter Cochrane scored the only goal in the fifth round of the shootout as Everett (15-4-2-1) won after losing back-to-back games for the first time this season. Patrick Bajkov and Graham Millar scored the goals in regulation for the Tips, while Austin Lotz earned the win in goal with 31 saves.
Kolesar and Justin Hickman scored for Seattle (9-11-2-2), which dropped its fourth straight. Taran Kozun made 29 saves in net for the T-birds.
Everett grabbed the lead at 14 minutes, 2 seconds into the first period. A breakout play started by defenseman Lucas Skrumeda opened up a chance for the Tips. Kohl Bauml had his shot blocked, but Bajkov was able to put home the rebound to give Everett a 1-0 lead.
Seattle tied it on the power play 6:12 into the second period when Kolesar banged in a rebound to knot it at 1-1.
The T-birds then took the lead just 17 seconds into the third as Hickman blew a shot from the right boards past Lotz to make it 2-1. However, Everett received a late power play, and Millar got a tip on Ivan Nikolishin’s shot, tying it with just 2:40 remaining in regulation.
Silvertips 3, Thunderbirds 2 (SO)
Everett 1 0 1 0 — 3
Seattle 0 1 1 0 — 2
Silvertips won shootout 1-0
First Period—1, Everett, Bajkov 7 (Bauml, Scherbak), 14:02. Penalties—Hauf, Seattle (charging), 11:15.
Second Period—2, Seattle, Kolesar 7 (Smith, Gropp), 6:12 (pp). Penalties—Wegleitner, Everett (kneeing), 5:54; Betker, Everett (interference), 7:34.
Third Period—3, Seattle, Hickman 7 (Eansor), 0:17. 4, Everett, Millar 8 (Nikolishin, Juulsen), 17:20 (pp). Penalties—Theodore, Seattle (high sticking), 3:38; Wardley, Seattle (unsportsmanlike conduct), 10:52; Hickman, Seattle (goaltender interference), 16:41.
Overtime—no goals. Penalties—Juulsen, Everett (goaltender interference), 4:40.
Shootout—Seattle 0 (Theodore NG, Hickman NG, Pederson NG, Kolesar NG, Eansor NG); Everett 1 (Nikolishin NG, Stadnyk NG, Bajkov NG, Millar NG, Cochrane G).
Shots on goal—Everett 8-9-11-3—31. Seattle 8-13-11-1—33. Power-play opportunities—Everett 1 of 4. Seattle 1 of 3.
Goalies—Everett, Lotz 11-3-1-1 (33 shots, 31 saves). Seattle, Kozun 8-8-2-2 (31 shots, 29 saves).
A—4,285.
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