EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips officially ensured their streak of making the playoffs in every season of franchise history stayed alive Friday night. However, it’s unlikely the Tips were doing much celebrating.
Everett once again allowed a tying goal late in the third period and the Tips wound up losing in a shootout for the third time in their past four outings, falling to the Tri-City Americans 2-1.
In four of Everett’s past five games the Tips held a one-goal lead late in the third period. In all four of those games Everett ended up letting the opposition tie it.
Friday night it was Tri-City’s Parker Wotherspoon who did the honors, scoring with 3 minutes, 4 seconds remaining in regulation to tie it 1-1. Then the Americans won the shootout 1-0, with former Silvertip Tyler Sandhu scoring the only goal in the shootout. Everett, which began the season going 5-1 in shootouts, has now lost games in shootouts in three of their past four contests.
Eric Comrie played a strong game in goal for the injury-riddled Americans (27-29-0-3), who wound up winning three of the four games played between the two teams over the past two weeks.
Carson Stadnyk scored the lone goal and Austin Lotz made 26 saves in net for Everett (35-16-3-4), which saw its lead atop the U.S. Division shrink by another point. Second-place Portland beat Vancouver 5-2, meaning the Winterhawks are now just five points behind the Tips. Both teams have 14 games remaining.
The consolation for Everett was the securing of a playoff berth. The Tips actually earned its trip to the postseason when Kamloops, currently in ninth place in the Western Conference, fell 4-3 to Moose Jaw earlier in the evening.
Things started off well enough for the Tips as Everett opened the scoring 14:24 into the game. Dawson Leedahl made a perfectly-weighted chip pass off the glass, allowing Stadnyk to skate into the offensive zone on the left on a two-on-one. Stadnyk made a drag move to the front of the goal, then lifted the puck over Comrie’s shoulder to give the Tips a 1-0 lead.
There was a confusing moment with 24.1 seconds remaining in the period when Tri-City’s Tyler Morrison put a shot in the net just as Lotz was taken out of the play. The goal was immediately waived off, yet it was the Tips who were called for the penalty as Patrick Bajkov’s trip caused the pile-up that knocked Lotz out of position.
The second period featured few high-quality scoring chances, though both teams drew iron and Lotz was called upon to bail out the defense following a near-fatal turnover early in the period, and it remained 1-0 going into the third.
Once again Everett found itself in a situation where it held a one-goal lead late in the third period, and once again the Tips were unable to hold it. Tri-City gained the initiative late in the period, and the Americans tied it with 3:04 remaining. Lotz stoned Justin Gutierrez from point blank, but from the ensuing chaos the puck came out to Wotherspoon at the point, and he had the space to pick out the corner with a wrister and tie it at 1-1, sending the game to overtime.
Both teams had chances to win it in OT, but Everett’s Patrick Bajkov put a rebound wide and Lotz made a flashy glove save on a Gutierrez drive, and it headed to the decisive shootout.
Slap shots
Everett played without defenseman Noah Juulsen, the team’s top-scoring defenseman, because of a lower-body injury. Juulsen is considered day to day. On the plus side the Tips had winger Logan Aasman (concussion) back for the first time since Nov. 30. Also, center Matt Fonteyne returned after missing three of the past four games because of a lower-body injury. … Tri-City played without three of its best players. Leading scorer Parker Bowles is out for the remainder of the season because of a shoulder injury, top defenseman Brandon Carlo sat out after taking a puck to the head in the Americans’ 5-1 loss to Portland on Tuesday, and key offensive performer Richard Nejezchleb was a late scratch because of a lower-body injury.
Americans 2, Silvertips 1 (SO)
Tri-City 0 0 1 0 —2
Everett 1 0 0 0 —1
Americans won shootout 1-0
First Period—1, Everett, Stadnyk 23 (Leedahl), 14:24. Penalties—T. Comrie, Tri-City (fighting), 5:34; Nikolishin, Everett (fighting), 5:34; Bajkov, Everett (tripping), 19:35.
Second Period—no goals. Penalties—Skrumeda, Everett (kneeing), 5:02; Hillism Tri-City (cross checking), 8:42; Wotherspoon, Tri-City (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:48; Low, Everett (unsportsmanlike conduct), 19:48.
Third Period—2, Tri-City, Wotherspoon 9 (Gutierrez, Nickles), 16:56. Penalties—Playfair, Tri-City (slashing), 9:46.
Overtime—no goals. Penalties—none.
Shootout—Tri-City 1 (Sandhu G, Lukin NG, T .Comrie NG); Everett 0 (Stadnyk NG, Nikolishin NG, Bajkov NG).
Shots on goal—Tri-City 11-6-8-2—27. Everett 12-8-9-2—31. Power-play opportunities—Tri-City 0 of 2. Everett 0 of 2.
Goalies—Tri-City, E. Comrie 16-16-0-1 (31 shots, 30 saves). Everett, Lotz 23-12-1-2 (27 shots, 26 saves).
A—5,543.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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