Wheat Kings Snag Single Point, Drop Second Against Silvertips
In many ways, the effort was there for the Brandon Wheat Kings against the Everett Silvertips, and in a small way it was rewarded. As slumping teams often find, however, bad luck can sometime spiral in on itself.
Roger McQueen scored, and Carson Bjarnason stopped 24 of 26 shots thrown his way, but the Wheat Kings claimed only the single point in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Everett Silvertips. Tyler Palmer was strong, stopping 30 of 31 shots he faced. Austin Roest scored the overtime winner.
“I actually liked our game tonight,” said head coach and GM Marty Murray. “I thought we played hard and our details were quite strong. I thought we deserved better than we got. The only thing we didn’t do right was score.”
In the first period, the Wheat Kings truly exemplified that statement. They outshot the Silvertips by a whopping 16-4 count and were all over them from the moment the puck dropped. Palmer stopped them at every turn, however, and Everett got the period’s only goal thanks to Carter Bear, who tipped home a point shot.
The ice tilted somewhat the other way in the third as the Silvertips got their legs under them and road fatigue became a slight factor for the Wheat Kings. But thanks to some big stops by Bjarnason, namely in the final seconds on two chances in front of him, the score stayed 1-0.
It didn’t stay that way for long in the third. Dominik Petr sprung McQueen on a breakaway just 16 seconds into the frame, and the Wheat Kings leading goal scorer made no mistake, tucking home a beauty on the backhand to tie the score.
No one else found the scoresheet in the third, though the Silvertips did find the crossbar twice. In overtime, however, the Wheat Kings luck ran out. Bjarnason made the initial stop but as the rebound popped up, Roest was waiting for it and he smacked home the winner.
With the loss, the Wheat Kings fall to 2-3-1 on the road trip. They can still finish it .500 however, as they take on the Wenatchee Wild in Wenatchee at 6:05 local time.
