Silvertips beat Chiefs in double OT, take 2-1 series lead

SPOKANE — The Everett Silvertips put in a ton of extra time in order to regain control of their first-round playoff series.

Jake Mykitiuk scored 2 minutes, 7 seconds into the second overtime as the Tips defeated the Spokane Chiefs 2-1 Wednesday night at Spokane Arena.

The marathon victory gave Everett a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

“This feels awesome,” Mykitiuk said. “It was a good team effort. I think we dominated for the most part tonight, so I think we really deserved that one.”

Carter Hart did yeoman’s work in goal for Everett, making 45 saves to earn the win for the Tips. Brayden Low scored the other goal for Everett.

Adam Helewka scored and Garret Hughson made 36 saves in net for Spokane.

It was just the third time a game went to double overtime in Everett playoff history.

Everett rode its luck through the first overtime as the Tips were fortunate to get the game into a second overtime. Then Everett wasted little time in the second OT in winning it.

Everett had just had a three-on-one chance denied by a backchecking Kailer Yamamoto, but the Tips soon got another chance off the rush. Everett entered the zone with numbers, with Ivan Nikolishin carrying the puck in on the right. He spied Mykitiuk on the opposite wing, threaded a pass across, and Mykitiuk immediately snapped a shot past Hughson to end it.

“Ivan is such a good passer, so I thought I’d try to find a lane on the heels of the defenseman there,” Mykitiuk said. “He made such a good pass, I couldn’t miss that one.”

“In the first overtime we didn’t really play our game, we were kind of sitting back a little bit,” Mykitiuk added. “But in the second overtime we started throwing the body more and playing more our style of game.”

The teams now have a day off before Game 4 Friday in Spokane.

Everett had several tremendous scoring chances in the first period, but wasn’t able to put any of them on net. Twice the Tips had tap-ins at the back door, but Carson Stadnyk was unable to corral the puck on the power play, then Low and Remi Laurencelle both fanned at the same puck. Later in the period Nikolishin had a wide-open rebound he put wide.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs took the lead. Helewka found a loose puck behind the Everett goal, skated to the side of the net and fired behind Hart from a tight angle to give Spokane a 1-0 lead at 14:19.

Both teams had one great scoring chance in the second period, but both goaltenders came up with a big save. First, Everett’s Kohl Bauml had a rebound chance that Hughson somehow got a piece of to direct it just wide. Then a turnover gave Spokane’s Riley Whittingham a chance all alone in front, but Hart moved well laterally to make the stop.

Everett then tied it in the first minute of the third period. Stadnyk skated the puck into the offensive zone on the rush, put on the brakes, then centered a pass toward Low streaking off the bench and toward goal. A Spokane defender deflected the pass, but it still found its way to Low, and Low slipped the puck under Hughson to knot it at 1-1 at 0:52.

Spokane had a nice period of pressure midway through the third period, but was unable to beat Hart. Then in the final minute there was a big scramble in front of the Chiefs net, but the Tips couldn’t put it in as the game headed to overtime.

In the first overtime Spokane had the better scoring chances. Keanu Yamamoto had an open far-post redirect on the rush, but put the puck wide. Then Helewka wriggled free in the slot and fired a shot that Hart stopped. The Tips also had to kill off a penalty when Nikita Scherbak was whistled for a stand-alone dive, but Everett killed it off and the game headed to double OT.

Slap shots

Everett played without overage defenseman Ben Betker. Betker, who was knocked out of Game 2 because of an upper-body injury, is listed by the Tips as day-to-day. … Betker’s absence was alleviated by the return of defenseman Tristen Pfeifer to the lineup. Pfeifer hadn’t played since Everett’s 7-2 home victory over Calgary on Feb. 27 because of an upper-body injury of his own. … Spokane reunited the line of top scorers Helewka, Calder Brooks and Kailer Yamamoto. The trio, which spent most of the season together, was broken up for Games 1 and 2 in Everett.

Silvertips 2, Chiefs 1 (2OT)

Everett 0 0 1 0 1 — 2

Spokane 1 0 0 0 0 — 1

First Period—1, Spokane, Helewka 3 (Ka. Yamamoto, Henderson), 14:19. Penalties—Helewka, Spokane (cross checking), 1:17; Charif, Spokane (hooking), 5:56.

Second Period—no goals. Penalties—Charif, Spokane (cross checking), 1:53; Davis, Everett (interference), 2:48; Skrumeda, Everett (delay of game), 16:52.

Third Period—2, Everett, Low 1 (Stadnyk, Bauml), 0:52. Penalties—Helgesen, Spokane (tripping), 3:47; Nikolishin, Everett (hooking), 13:27.

First overtime—no goals. Penalties—Scherbak, Everett (embellishment), 12:16.

Second overtime—3, Everett, Mykitiuk 1 (Nikolishin, Davis), 2:07. Penalties—none.

Shots on goal—Everett 11-9-12-4-2—38. Spokane 10-5-20-11-0—46. Power-play opportunities—Everett 0 of 4. Spokane 0 of 4.

Goalies—Everett, Hart 2-1 (46 shots, 45 saves). Spokane, Hughson 1-2 (38 shots, 38 saves).

A—3,624.

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