RECAP / First Thing’s First!
EVERETT, Wash. – “ Patrick Bajkov generated a pair of goals and added an assist, Dorrin Luding earned his first WHL career victory with 42 stops and the Everett Silvertips cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Tri-City Americans, before 2,890 fans at XFINITY Arena on Sunday to give head coach Dennis Williams the first win in his WHL coaching career.
Luding, bouncing back from an early exit on Opening Night with 15 saves on 19 shots, turned away 18 shots in the second period while the Tips led wire-to-wire to secure Williams’ first career in in the WHL. The Silvertips fired 52 shots on goal, three shy of their franchise record of 55 (set in 2006-07 vs. Portland).
To say tonight was an improvement from last night’s game is an understatement. The first period started out strong as the Tips drew a power play at the 7:03 mark for the first 5-on-4 advantage of the evening. Riley Sutter converted rather quickly as he fired a rebound past Patrick Dea to make it 1-0 at 7:40 with a feed from Bajkov and Dewar on the goal.
The Tips doubled their score at 13:04 with Matt Fonteyne setting up Bajkov between the circles.
Everett and Luding looked sharp in the second period defending a five-on-three but unfortunately Tri-City capitalized towards the end of Riley Bruce’s penalty and made the score 2-1 with a goal from Maxwell James, tipping Dylan Coughlan’s point shot past Luding at 16:19. Everett was able to kill the remainder of the second penalty with ease.
A little over a minute later, the Tips got their momentum back with a big highlight reel goal from Bajkov for his second of the night, making it 3-1 Tips, cruising into the zone on a set-up from Fonteyne and stuffing a backhand deke at 18:10.
Everett sealed the deal with Sean Richards’ first goal of the season, a fantastic finish on a snap shot at the right circle and set up by Jake Christiansen and Wyatte Wylie at 1:35 of the third period for a 4-1 lead.
The rest of the third period appeared to be a revolving door of penalties for both teams as things got heated between the two Washington rivals. Both teams had excellent penalty kills and great goaltenders who provided great support on the back end. The teams saw a combined 58 minutes of penalties in the third period, including a fight at the end of the game between Mark Liwiski and Dan Gatenby.
Patrick Dea, Dorrin Luding’s counterpart and making his Tri-City debut, made 49 saves. The Silvertips will battle the Rockets in Kelowna on Friday, September 29 at 7:05 PM PT (1520 KKXA / WHL Live / Tips App) to start a season long nine-game road trip. The Tips return home Wednesday, Oct. 18 vs. Tri-City at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are available at www.everettsilvertips.com/tickets.
BOX SCORE | GAME AUDIO | PHOTO GALLERY
SILVERTIPS LINE COMBOS
DEWAR – FONTENYE – BAJKOV
CENTAZZO – SUTTER – FASKO-RUDAS
RICHARDS – VITELLI – KINDOPP
HEIN – LIWISKI – BUTT
DEFENSIVE PAIRS
CHRISTIANSEN – DAVIS
WYLIE – ONYEBUCHI
BRUCE – WALKER
GOALTENDERS
LUDING
BELLUK
NOTES: The Silvertips scratches included Pavel Azhgirei, Kyle Walker, Ethan Browne, Gianni Fairbrother, Carter Hart, and Dustin Wolf … Hart was out of uniform due to illness … Riley Sutter played in the 100th game of his Silvertips and WHL career … Bajkov’s goal placed in 5th place on the Tips all-time goal scoring chart (81), surpassing Carson Stadnyk and Kohl Bauml.
Silvertips season ticket or mini-plan packages are available at www.everettsilvertips.com/season or by calling (425) 252-5100.
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