Silvertips try ‘to finish this thing off’

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips are acutely aware that they missed an opportunity Saturday.

Now their task is to put that out of mind and seize the next chance.

Everett gets its second crack at closing out its first-round Western Hockey League playoff series against the Spokane Chiefs in Game 6 Tuesday night at Spokane Arena.

Everett leads the best-of-seven series 3-2.

“You have to have a short memory with that sort of stuff,” said Everett overage winger Brayden Low, who’s scored goals in each of the past three games. “It’s the first to four, just like we’ve said all series. We’re going back to Spokane to finish this thing off.”

Still, the Tips are still dealing with the bitter taste of having come within three minutes of ending the series on home ice in Saturday’s Game 5.

“It’s hard to take, a hard pill to swallow, especially when we had six or seven quality chances to end the game, myself included,” Low said. “A few of the goals went against the flow there, and (Spokane’s winning goal) just happened to go in the back of the net.”

Everett led 3-2 after two periods of Game 5. The Tips then sat on the lead throughout the third period, and it looked like Everett might just survive until Spokane defenseman Nick Charif scored with 2 minutes, 18 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game and force overtime.

What followed was a captivating overtime period that saw frantic up-and-down action and multiple premium scoring chances at both ends of the ice. The Chiefs finally won it on Riley Whittingham’s goal, keeping Spokane alive.

“It was tough,” said Everett winger Carson Stadnyk, who leads the series in scoring with seven points (four goals, three assists). “It was a close game all around. We had that one-goal lead with two minutes left, and in overtime we had our chances. It was like when we went to overtime in their building (in Game 3, won 2-1 by Everett). They had so many chances, but we got the goal. (In Game 5) we had so many chances in that overtime, and they just capitalized on their opportunity. We just have to put it behind us and focus on the game (Tuesday).”

Everett could have avoided another lengthy bus ride had the Tips finished off Game 5.

“Absolutely (it was a missed opportunity), there’s no real hiding it,” Low said. “I had a few chances, we hit a few posts, we had some good looks. Most of the time those are going to go in. Give their goalie (Garret Hughson) credit, he played well for them. I felt we had more than enough opportunities to end it.”

Though Spokane still trails in the series, the Chiefs are in a decent position, heading home for Game 6 and holding the momentum.

“That’s what we wanted right from the start,” Spokane coach Don Nachbaur said following Game 5. “The guys proved it tonight. But every game in this series could have gone either way, even back to the 5-1 game (won by Everett in Game 1). It was a 1-0 (Spokane) lead and we let that dissipate. Even looking at the two games we lost at home, one was in overtime. It could be a different series right now, but they’re two evenly matched teams and they’re both battling.”

The good news for Everett is that the Tips have had success at Spokane this season. Everett went a span of losing 18 straight games at Spokane Arena between March 14, 2010 and Feb. 16, 2014. But this season the Tips won three of the four meetings in Spokane, and Everett also prevailed in both playoff games in Spokane, Games 3 and 4.

“(Our confidence) is pretty good,” Stadnyk said. “We’re keeping it nice and mellow. It’s the first to four, so no one had really done anything yet. The toughest game to win is always the fourth game, so we just have to come out there flying again, just like in the two games we won there already.

“It would have been nice to close it out at home in front of our fans, they’ve supported us the whole year,” Stadnyk added. “But hopefully we can finish it (Tuesday) night.”

Slap shots

As of Monday evening there was no word from the WHL on the fate of Spokane defenseman Evan Fiala. Fiala received a major penalty and game misconduct early in the second period of Saturday’s Game 5. Major penalties typically are accompanied by suspensions. However, the league had yet to announce whether Fiala would be suspended for his penalty. … Everett winger Dawson Leedahl missed practice Monday. Leedahl, a key component of Everett’s Saskatoon Platoon line, missed the past two games because of an undisclosed injury.

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