Silvertips slip past Thunderbirds

Skids: Seattle drops fourth straight, 10 of its last 12 games

February 25, 2018 9:30 am
Thunderbirds center Matthew Wedman, left, battles a Silvertip for position during WHL play Saturday night. COURTESY PHOTO, Brian Liesse, T-Birds

For the Reporter

The Everett Silvertips defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 2-1 in front of 5,452 fans at the accesso ShoWare Center on Saturday night.

The Thunderbirds have lost four straight and 10 of their last 12 games.

Seattle (28-24-7-2) remains in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, six points ahead of the Kamloops Blazers with two games in hand. The T-Birds are seven points behind the Tri-City Americans, the second-place wild-card team.

The T-Birds opened the scoring at 14:18 of the first period. Noah Philp had the puck behind the Everett net and centered it to Nolan Volcan. Volcan put the puck over a Everett goalie Carter Hart as he lunged to make the save. Donovan Neuls had the second assist.

Everett (41-17-2-3) tied the game 1-1 at 11:35 of the second period on a goal by Conner Dewar. The goal came just after Neuls’ stick was broken in half by a slash that was not called a penalty. The uncalled slash happened in the neutral zone along the right boards as he was heading up ice with the puck.

The Silvertips took a 2-1 lead at 2:24 of the third period on a goal by Garrett Pilon.

Everett outshot Seattle 39-24 in the game.

The T-Birds’ next game is at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday against the Vancouver Giants at the ShoWare Center. It is a Director’s Mortgage 2-for-Tuesday.

Order tickets on the T-Birds website and at the accesso ShoWare Center box office.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, Volcan 26 (Philp, Neuls), 14:18. Penalties – Lee, Sea (high-sticking), 11:11.

Second period – 2, Everett, Dewar 32 (Bajkov, Fonteyne), 11:35. Penalties – Lee, Sea (interference), 8:17. Wedman, Sea (slashing), 12:53. Richards, Evt (roughing), 17:26. Sutter, Evt (roughing), 17:26. Walker, Evt (roughing), 17:26. Andrusiak, Sea (roughing), 17:26. Ottenbreit, Sea (roughing), 17:26. Philp, Sea (roughing), 17:26.

Third period – 3, Everett, Pilon 31 (Dewar), 2:44. Penalties – Tyszka, Sea (delay of game), 5:53. Bajkov, Evt (slashing), 8:49. Dewar, Evt (roughing), 18:10. Strand, Sea (roughing), 18:10.

Shots on goal – Seattle 8-3-13 24, Tri-City 14-13-12 39. Goalies – Seattle, Hughes 39 shots-37 saves (10-10-4-1); Everett, Hart 24-23 (25-4-1-3). Power plays – Seattle 0-1; Everett 0-4. A – 5,452. Referees – Ward Pateman, Derek Zalaski. Linesmen – Brett Mackey, Michael McGowan.