EVERETT — Kohl Bauml knew he had missed his chance to win it. He wasn’t going to miss a second time.
The Everett Silvertips captain atoned for a potentially decisive miss late in regulation, scoring the winner late in overtime as the Tips fought back to defeat the WHL-leading Kelowna Rockets 3-2 Tuesday night at Xfinity Arena.
It was sweet redemption for Bauml, and it was a huge victory for Everett as it tries to hold off Portland for first place in the U.S. Division.
“This feels awesome,” Bauml said. “There’s really no other word for it. It was a fun game to be a part of. We played hard the whole game. That was a playoff hockey game, and it couldn’t have come at a better time because we’ve been struggling. It’s a big win for our group.”
Everett seemed in no position to win it. The Tips trailed 2-0 early in the third period against the banged-up Rockets, and Everett wasn’t creating anything offensively. But the Tips gutted their way back into it. A fine individual effort by Nikita Scherbak got Everett on the board, then a deflected goal by Dawson Leedahl tied it.
Tips goaltender Carter Hart, who kept the Tips in it throughout, came up with two breakaway saves with the score tied 2-2. Then with three minutes remaining in regulation Bauml had his chance. A point shot rebounded to him right out front with the net gaping, but he somehow managed to put the puck wide.
But in overtime Bauml got the last laugh. Tips defenseman Noah Juulsen boomed a shot that was blocked in the slot. The puck got lost in skates, where Scherbak fished it out and fed Bauml all alone in front. Bauml put a shot over Kelowna goaltender Jackson Whistle’s shoulder and into the top corner to give Everett an immense win.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle for me the past two weeks, putting the puck in the net,” Bauml said. “Getting an opportunity like that in the third period and missing an open net, I was like, ‘What else can go wrong?’ Getting that one felt good, helped getting my confidence back, and it was a huge two points for our hockey club.”
Said Everett coach Kevin Constantine: “He’s our captain, he’s the heart and soul of our team, and he really cares. It’s nice to see that get rewarded.”
Hart finished with 37 saves as Everett (38-19-3-4) pushed its lead over Portland for first place in the division back out to four points. The Winterhawks have two games in hand.
“It’s massive,” Bauml said of the victory. “Not a lot of teams steal points from (Kelowna), not a lot of people give any teams a chance against them. So to be able to, I guess if you want to say steal two points from them, especially being down, it’s massive.”
Tyson Baillie and Leon Draisaitl scored power-play goals for Kelowna (48-11-4-1), which dropped consecutive games for just the second time this season. Whistle finished with 27 saves.
Kelowna, which was missing several key players because of injury, was cruising to victory. Baillie and Draisaitl scored on Kelowna’s first two power plays of the game, and Kelowna’s defense had Everett completely stymied.
But a momentary spark from Scherbak finally got Everett going. Scherbak skated the puck into the offensive zone on the right, cut into the middle, then fired a shot from the slot under Whistle to get the Tips on the board at 3:54.
Everett came to life, and the Tips tied it at 10:16. Everett put three bodies in front of the net for Lucas Skrumeda’s low shot from the left point, and Leedahl was able to tip it over Whistle to make it 2-2 and put Everett in position to take something from the game.
But none of it would have happened without the efforts of Hart. The 16-year-old rookie played his second straight spectacular game against top opposition. He made 41 saves when Everett ended Calgary’s string of winning 15 of 16 last Friday in a 7-2 victory, then he bailed the Tips out on multiple occasions Tuesday. Hart is now 9-1-0-1 in 2015.
“It was nice because he got lit up a little bit when we were in Kelowna (in a 9-3 loss),” said Constantine, who also gave praise to a defense that was playing short-handed. “After that you’re either going to be intimidated or determined. It’s nice to see a goalie that instead of being intimidated by them was determined tonight. That’s a nice approach to his second crack at that team.”
Slap shots
Both teams played significantly short-handed. … Everett received some relief on defense as overager Ben Betker returned after serving a one-game suspension handed down by the league for his checking-to-the-head major penalty in Friday’s victory over Calgary. However, fellow blueliners Kevin Davis and Tristen Pfeifer remained out because of upper-body injuries, meaning the Tips dressed just five defensemen. … Meanwhile, Kelowna had six players out because on injury, including leading goal scorer Rourke Chartier (upper body) and top-pairing defenseman Josh Morrissey (lower body). As a result, the Rockets played one skater short.
Silvertips 3, Rockets 2 (OT)
Kelowna1100—2
Everett0021—3
First Period—1, Kelowna, Baillie 36 (Draisaitl, Bowey), 6:46 (pp). Penalties—Bauml, Everett (checking from behind), 6:14.
Second Period—2, Kelowna, Draisaitl 15 (Quinney, Baillie), 4:19 (pp). Penalties—Stadnyk, Everett (tripping), 3:07; Soustal, Kelowna (roughing), 6:24; Betker, Everett (roughing), 6:24; Stadnyk, Everett (tripping), 14:03; Dube, Kelowna (holding), 17:47.
Third Period—3, Everett, Scherbak 27 (Nikolishin), 3:54. 4, Everett, Leedahl 13 (Skrumeda, Bauml), 10:16. Penalties—Scherbak, Everett (holding), 5:34.
Overtime—5, Everett, Bauml 30 (Juulsen, Scherbak), 4:31. Penalties—none.
Shots on goal—Kelowna 9-13-13-4—39. Everett 9-6-9-6—30. Power-play opportunities—Kelowna 2 of 4. Everett 0 of 1.
Goalies—Kelowna, Whistle 31-8-4-0 (30 shots, 27 saves). Everett, Hart 14-4-2-1 (39 shots, 37 saves).
A—3,576.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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