EVERETT — After Lukas Kaplan scored in double overtime against the Seattle Thunderbirds at the accesso ShoWare Center on Monday, sealing a 1-0 win in Game 6 to clinch the first-round playoff series for the Everett Silvertips, he received messages from friends and family, congratulating him and the team. But the 17-year-old forward was focused on the group.
“It was just good to celebrate that with the guys,” Kaplan said. “Just to see all the happiness in the room and how everyone was so happy for me and happy for all the guys.”
After the celebration was over, the attention shifted to the next task: Facing the Portland Winterhawks in the second round of the WHL Playoffs.
Portland advanced after defeating Prince George in seven games. This series will mark the third year in a row that Everett and Portland face each other in the postseason, with the Winterhawks winning each of the previous two meetings: 4-1 in the first round in 2023 and 4-0 in the second round in 2024.
As if the Silvertips needed any more motivation to knock off their U.S. Division rival, their recent playoff history provides that.
“I think that’s all we really need, is motivation,” said forward Austin Roest, who leads the team in playoff scoring with nine points in six games. “Last two years, I think it was, right? They knocked us out. I think it’s going to be a big test for us, obviously, going from Seattle to Portland. Obviously, two different types of playing styles; Seattle is kind of more on the heavier side, Portland’s kind of a fast, kind of a run-and-gun type team, so it’s going to be a good test for us.”
It’s a test the Silvertips are well-studied for; Everett won six out of eight matchups against Portland this season, with one of the losses coming in a shootout.
Defenseman Eric Jamieson believes good puck management played a big role against the Winterhawks during the regular season, and that limiting the transition game of a fast team like Portland will set Everett up for success in this round.
“I think just playing our game, not playing into what they want to do,” Jamieson said. “Like I said, they like to play fast and they want to play with a short rink, play in transition, so we got to make sure that they gotta work for everything and play fast in our own right.”
Portland boasts two of the top five scorers through the first round of the playoffs: Tyson Jugnauth leads all defensemen with 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) and is tied for first among all skaters with Medicine Hat winger Gavin McKenna. Meanwhile, forward Kyle Chyzowski is tied for third in scoring with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists).
Roest grew up playing hockey with Jugnauth beginning at age 11-12, but the childhood friendship will be set aside in this heated playoff series. While the veterans on this Silvertips team have yet to crack Portland in the playoffs, Roest believes this year’s group is better equipped for success.
“I’m looking back at the last two years, we didn’t have the lineup we do this year,” Roest said. “I thought we weren’t as deep as the other years, and we were also hurt the couple years that we played them. So I mean, we’re still a little banged up right now, but hopefully looking to get a couple guys back, and I think it’s going to be a lot (more) different matchup.”
The Silvertips managed to win the last three games of the series against Seattle despite missing some of their top-producing players from the regular season. Forwards Tyler MacKenzie (upper body) and Cole Temple (undisclosed) as well as defenseman Landon DuPont (upper body) each sustained injuries early in the Seattle series. Top scorer Carter Bear (lower body) is already expected to miss the rest of the season, but there appears to be hope at least some of the others will return.
Silvertips coach Steve Hamilton said he does not know when that will be — or at least is not willing to share publicly — but did not exactly close the door on things.
“The longer things go, hopefully a greater return to health we can get, and I mean, we’ll see where it goes,” Hamilton said.
In the meantime, Hamilton has filled the gap with depth players that so far have stepped up into new roles: Kaplan moved up to the top six and cashed in the overtime series-clincher on Monday, while defenseman Rylan Pearce shifted up to the second pair in DuPont’s absence with Jamieson, who called him “reliable” and someone who can make “great plays (and) great calls.”
Kaplan, Pearce and the others will be tested once again as this Everett team tries to shake its past against Portland, but Hamilton is in his first season behind the Silvertips bench and does not share that same history. His message to the group was clear: The past is the past.
“To be honest with you, before the playoffs started, I was very up front with the guys: I don’t care what’s gone on here in the playoffs, in the past, at all,” Hamilton said. “It was (a) different team, different time, different personnel. And so I don’t believe in history having any effect on the present. …
“We simply need to be prepared with the group that we have and take on the challenge.”
That challenge starts at 7:05 p.m. at Angel of the Winds Arena on Friday for Game 1, and Game 2 will be Saturday at 6:05 p.m. before the series shifts to Portland for Games 3 and 4.
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