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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Fast start leads to Silvertips win

Spokane's Jared Spurgeon, right, muscles Everett's Ryan Sawka away from his angle to the crease at the Spokane Arena in the second period. (Brian Plonka / The Spokesman-Review)

The Spokane Chiefs still haven’t figured out the Everett Silvertips.

That was painfully clear to the Arena crowd on Friday night as Everett skated to a 4-1 win over Spokane in a Western Hockey League play. It’s also obvious the Chiefs still don’t have a clear-cut No. 1 goalie.

The Chiefs spotted Everett a 3-0 lead before they began to play with a sense of urgency. By that time, the game was just 5:09 old and starting Spokane goalie Thomas Stehr was pulled in favor of Jim Watt after facing just six shots.

“You have to have a full 60 minutes against this team,” said Watt. “You can’t even take 5 minutes off. They’re going to put it away on you.”

That’s exactly what happened on this night.

The Silvertips got on the board in their trademark style of creating odd-man rushes and exploiting the defense. Rookie Spokane defenseman Jared Spurgeon got burned on the first two goals.

Everett got on the board just 1:32 into the game when Eric Doyle beat Stehr top-shelf, stick-side as Spurgeon played the puck handler and didn’t cut off the pass. The Chiefs also got caught in an untimely line change.

Then, at the 3:57 mark, Mark Kress took advantage of a defensive breakdown between Spurgeon and David Schulz as he one-timed a pass at the left post for a 2-0 Everett lead.

The Silvertips made it 3-0 just 1:12 later, when John Lammers beat Stehr on a wrist shot from the right circle that found its way into the top corner of the short side of the net. Peters had seen enough and pulled Stehr, the rookie who had won four straight games.

Watt came in to make 26 saves and looked solid in net. He empathized with his teammate.

“Obviously, Thomas had been going well and you’ve got to go with the guy who’s playing well,” said Watt, the veteran who started the season at the undisputed No. 1 goalie. “It’s hard, because I never wish Thomas to have a bad game … it’s never easy to see a kid get pulled like that in front of five, six thousand fans for the first time.”

Watt then added that the goalie battle has him more dedicated to his off-ice preparation.

The Chiefs would get one goal back at the 9:18 mark of the first, just one second after the end of a power play, when Derek Ryan drove hard to the net in the left slot. Ryan drew three defenders and threaded the puck through the trio to a waiting Chris Bruton in the right slot. Bruton buried the shot at the 9:18 mark to put Spokane on the board.

The teams played a scoreless second period and the third period went essentially the same.

The teams played a well-disciplined style of play that saw Everett try and slow down the game on several occasions.

Every time the Silvertips did so, holding the puck behind their net and changing lines, the Arena crowd voiced its displeasure.

“I think they kind of frustrate teams by just sitting back, not really being aggressive, just waiting for you to make a mistake,” said Ryan. “Against a team like us that likes to go out there and score goals, it kind of frustrates us. We can get impatient and make mistakes and they capitalize.”

The only goal in the final 40 minutes was the empty-net goal by Everett’s Peter Mueller with 1:08 left in the game. Watt then returned.

Chiefs coach Bill Peters said that he’s not disheartened by his team’s lack of results against Everett.

The Chiefs fell to 2-4 against the Silvertips on the season and have scored just seven goals in those six games. He said he sees some bright spots.

“The start put us behind the eight ball right from the start,” said Peters. “I thought in the first period there was some offense both ways, some opportunities to come back and we needed to generate that many opportunities again in the second and third – and we just never did.”

The Chiefs outshot the Silvertips 15-13 in the first period.

Many of those shots came from too far outside to be effective, unlike Spokane’s goal which came from deep penetration into the offensive zone.

The good news for the Chiefs was that they only lost ground to the first-place Silvertips with the loss.

Spokane (15-16-1, 31 points) remains in fourth place but trails Everett (19-14-1, 39) by eight points.

Portland (33) and Seattle (32) each lost on Friday, the latter to fifth-place Tri-City (28) points.

Lynch’s return pushed back

Chiefs captain Jeff Lynch, who wanted to play Friday night, was not cleared to do so by medical staff.

Spokane is taking a cautious approach with the knee sprain and attempting to give Lynch time through the Christmas break to let it heal. Lynch is aiming for a Dec. 27 return against Prince George.

Silvertips 4, Chiefs 1

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First Period—1, Everett, Doyle 1 (Harper, Smyke), 1:42. 2, Everett, Kress 3 (Wheat), 3:57 (sh). 3, Everett, Lammers, 15 5:09. 4, Spokane, Bruton 8 (Ryan, Klassen), 9:18. Second Period—None. Third Period—5, Everett, Mueller 14 (Heshka, Ellington), 18:52 (en).

Power-play Opp.—Everett 0 of 5; Spokane 0 of 6. Saves—Everett, Irving 27 saves. Spokane, Stehr 3 saves; Watt 26 saves. A—5,553.