LeGall, Kaplan win series for Tips in Game 6 against Seattle

KENT – With 93 minutes of hockey already played, the Everett Silvertips had an offensive-zone faceoff.

In the previous three games of their first-round playoff series, the Silvertips and Seattle Thunderbirds combined for 28 goals. In double overtime of Game 6 on Monday, neither side had any.

The teams had more than 100 shots on goal combined, but the two goalies — Everett’s Raiden LeGall and Seattle’s Scott Ratzlaff — were standing on their heads. With Everett leading 3-2 in the series, a Silvertips goal would end Seattle’s season and advance Everett to the second round. A Thunderbirds goal would force Game 7. Neither side wanted to break.

Before the draw, chants started to ring throughout the rink: “Let’s Go Tips! Let’s Go Tips!”

Scores of Everett faithful stood in their seats, urging their team to the finish line. Big deal, right? Fans always make noise in the home arena. Except this wasn’t at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett; Silvertips fans were drowning out the Thunderbirds fans at the accesso ShoWare Center.

Everett forward Nolan Chastko won the faceoff, sending it to fellow forward Jaxsin Vaughan on the right boards. As Vaughan corralled the puck, forward Lukas Kaplan slipped to the net front. Vaughan flung the puck into the center and — after countless Silvertips centering passes had missed the mark earlier that night — connected with Kaplan, who tipped the puck over Ratzlaff’s shoulder and in at 13:43 of double overtime.

Game over. Series over. On the 105th total shot on goal of the game, Kaplan punched Everett’s ticket to the second round with a 1-0 double overtime win to clinch the series 4-2.

“To do it with this group, it just means everything to me,” Kaplan said. “Definitely one of the biggest goals I’ve scored, for sure. … The defense and goaltending on both sides was just unreal. You always know in those games, just a bounce is going to go your way, and it went my way. And it was just a blackout from there.”

After the customary series-ending handshake line ended, those same chanting Silvertips fans crowded around the tunnel as the players streamed to the locker room. Head coach Steve Hamilton pointed to the crowd, taking in the scene in front of him and pumped his fist on his way in.

“We have unbelievable fans,” Hamilton said, chuckling. “They travel and support our guys and love our team. We’re so fortunate to have that kind of support. So it did not surprise me that they were out in full force tonight, and I know that’s why Everett is the best place in the league to play.”

Kaplan had the winning moment, but LeGall had the most important stat line: a 57-save shutout. After the two teams combined for nine goals in Games 3, eight in Game 4, then 11 more in Game 5, both realized the stakes in a 3-2 series and that they needed to go all out every shift. In a marathon game, which completed just the first round of what Everett hopes will be a marathon playoff run, LeGall and his defenders stood tall.

“The week (leading) up to playoffs, we worked on sort of the mental side of things, and I feel like that really helped us tonight,” LeGall said. “We knew we always got to battle, and even when things don’t go our way, we found a way and won three straight there, so that was really big of us.”

After doubling the Silvertips’ shot total 16-8 in the first period, Seattle remained ahead the entire game. But the two sides traded chances back-and-forth down the stretch. Kaplan nearly got the winner just 58 seconds into the third period, getting a good look on Ratzlaff off the rush, but glanced the puck off his shoulder and out. Kaplan would have to wait 42 more minutes.

After failing to even record a shot on goal during a power play opportunity at 11:44 of the third period, Everett had to fend off a Seattle forecheck that created chances in a relentless effort to extend their season. Forward Austin Roest made a big block on Seattle defenseman Hyde Davidson from the point at 17:00, and LeGall nearly bobbled a puck into a waiting Thunderbird stick before freezing it with 17 seconds left.

The chances kept coming in overtime, with Ratzlaff gloving nearly every shot that came his way. Simon Lovsin nearly ended the game for Seattle 8:30 into overtime, dangling into the slot before he was pushed behind the goal line. Lovsin managed to keep the puck and attempted to throw it off LeGall’s back and in from behind the goal line. The puck hit LeGall, but deflected to the right rather than directly back. Bullet dodged.

“It hit my skate, and I’m like, ‘Uh oh,’” LeGall said. “Then I looked behind me, and luckily enough it went to the far end of the ice. But yeah, that was definitely close.”

As the game rolled into a second overtime, the tired legs continued chugging to create chances. Forward Julius Miettinen had a rebound on the doorstep that Ratzlaff absorbed at 2:25. Off the ensuing faceoff, forward Zackary Shantz had a look, to no avail. Seattle’s Braeden Cootes recorded the 100th shot of the game at 8:25, sending one from the right circle directly into LeGall’s chest. Every missed chance resulted in the shooter looking towards the sky in frustration. As time wore down and the game drew on, the skaters pushed past fatigue.

“As a kid, you dream about these moments, going out for overtime,” Kaplan said. “I was just kind of thinking of that. You’re born for these moments, and that’s just how I stay loose, just think like that.”

But each goalie made save after save. For a while, it seemed like Sisyphus would have a better chance of getting his boulder up the mountain. Until Kaplan — with the help of Vaughan and Chastko — finally did it.

“That was two teams that emptied the tank this series,” Hamilton said. “That was an extremely physical series, and both sides played incredibly hard. And obviously it came down to one play. Not very often you see a double overtime game (be) 1-0.”

It’s Everett’s third win in a row when missing Tyler MacKenzie, Landon DuPont and Cole Temple from the lineup. In addition to the absence of leading scorer Carter Bear, the Silvertips are without four of their top seven scorers from the regular season. They managed to get past Seattle without them, but they may very well have to do it again when they face the Portland Winterhawks in the second round beginning on Friday at Angel of the Winds Arena.

Bear is already expected to miss the rest of the season with a lower-leg injury, but Hamilton would not divulge the status of the other three skaters after the game.

“It’s playoffs, man,” Hamilton said. “What’s the chances of me answering that?”

“I got to ask though,” I said back, but Hamilton was already walking back to the locker room.

“Yeah,” he said, barely looking over his shoulder. “Take care.”

And away he went, with his team, to the second round.