GAME RECAP: Kaplan’s double-overtime winner sends Tips to Round 2
KENT, Wash. — Lukas Kaplan’s double-overtime goal sealed a 1-0 Game Six win for the Everett Silvertips over the Seattle Thunderbirds, sending the Tips on to the Western Conference Semifinal.
Seattle outshot Everett 38-27 through regulation time, with shots favoring Everett 14-13 in the first overtime frame. Kaplan’s goal came 13:43 into the second overtime, as Jaxsin Vaughan fielded a Nolan Chastko faceoff win in the right corner and flipped a pass to the front of the crease where Kaplan awaited.
Everett’s Raiden LeGall finished a perfect 57-for-57 in net, a career-high in saves and a Silvertip franchise record for most saves in a playoff shutout. He passes Mike Wall’s 43-save clean sheet on Mar. 29, 2005- Game Three of the Western Conference Quarterfinal.
The win is just the third 1-0 playoff game in Silvertips history. Previously, the Tips lost 1-0 in Game Four of the 2018 WHL Final against the Swift Current Broncos, and earned a 1-0 overtime win thanks to Bryan Nathe in Game Four of the 2004 Western Conference Final against the Kelowna Rockets.
It is the first WHL Playoff game to be scoreless headed into overtime since Game Two of the 2015 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal between Red Deer and Medicine Hat. Only two games in the WHL’s Internet Era (since 1996) have entered into double-overtime scoreless- that being Games One and Two of the Western Conference Final in 2008 between the Spokane Chiefs and Tri-City Americans.
The Western Conference Semifinal series between the Everett Silvertips and Portland Winterhawks will begin on Friday. Tickets available by clicking here.
