RECAP: Youth Serves an OT Point
EVERETT, Wash. – Blake Lyda, making his Western Hockey League debut as a 15-year old affiliated player call-up, earned 32 saves and third star honors in net but Jordan Topping scored at 1:12 to lift the Tri-City Americans over the Everett Silvertips in overtime, 3-2 before 2,957 fans at XFINITY Arena on Wednesday in WHL action.
The Silvertips dumped 48 shots on net towards Lyda’s counterpart, Patrick Dea, who made 46 saves for first star honors. Patrick Bajkov and Matt Fonteyne each collected power play goals while Kevin Davis dished a pair of assists on the Tips side.
Lyda settled in with 10 saves in the first period and the Tips outshot Tri-City, 15-10 in the first 20 minutes, turning away a threatening chance by Jordan Topping with five minutes to play. Their best chance came on a Matt Fonteyne takeaway and centering feed for Patrick Bajkov, who was stopped between the circles.
The Tips outshot Tri-City 19-9 in the second and finally broke through on Bajkov’s five-on-three goal with 3:42 left, deflecting a pass from the left corner through Dea’s five hole.
The Tips got into penalty issues early in the third period and Kyle Olson tied the game at 7:09 when his shot from between the circles deflected past Lyda, and Juuso Valimaki’s rocket from the left point put the Americans ahead, 2-1 on a two-man advantage at 8:56.
Fonteyne and the Tips refused to wilt and the co-captain tied the game on another power play strike at 12:47, when his blast from the left circle deflected off traffic established by Riley Sutter.
As the game turned into overtime, Topping took a feed at the bottom of the right circle and attempted a pass toward the top of the crease. But the puck deflected past Lyda for Topping’s sixth goal of the season to seal the game.
SILVERTIPS LINE COMBOS
CENTAZZO – FONTEYNE – BAJKOV
DEWAR – SUTTER – KINDOPP
HEIN – VITELLI – BUTT
BROWNE – ONYEBUCHI – FASKO-RUDAS
DEFENSIVE PAIRS
FAIRBROTHER – DAVIS
CHRISTIANSEN – WYLIE
K. WALKER – I. WALKER
GOALTENDERS
LYDA
LUDING
NOTES: The Silvertips scratches included Pavel Azhgirei (healthy), Sean Richards (healthy), Mark Liwiski (health), Carter Hart (illness, 1-3 weeks), and Dustin Wolf (lower body, 2-4 weeks) … Davis extended his scoring streak to a club high nine straight games … the Tips have generated four power play goals in the last two games.
Silvertips season ticket or mini-plan packages are available at www.everettsilvertips.com/season or by calling (425) 252-5100.
TIPS MOBILE – iTunes | Android Market
Follow the Silvertips: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Snapchat (evt_silvertips)
— SILVERTIP COUNTRY —
