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

Big third period lifts Silvertips over Chiefs in Game 1

EVERETT – The third period had barely started Friday night when Carson Stadnyk made it known that he wasn’t going to stand for the Spokane Chiefs’ 1-0 lead. Stadnyk scored 17 seconds into the final period and added two goals during the next 3:46 as the Everett Silvertips drew first blood in their best-of-7 Western Hockey League first-round series against the Chiefs with a 5-1 victory at Xfinity Arena. Stadnyk’s second and third goals came unassisted at 1:34 and 4:03. “They took it to us in the first 40 minutes,” Stadnyk said. “When we came into the (locker) room (at the second-period intermission), we had a big talk about it. The last 20, we should be playing the whole game like that, not just 20 minutes.” Ivan Nikolishin added a pair of third-period power-play goals and Everett rookie goaltender Carter Hart stopped 22 of 23 shots to help the Silvertips take a 1-0 lead into tonight’s Game 2. “Miscues with the puck,” Chiefs head coach Don Nachbaur said of the third period. “Turnovers. We turned the puck over the first shift right in the neutral zone, then we turned the puck over at the back of the net and it ended up in the net. “I would say probably all three goals we could have done something about, but the momentum shifted right there. Turnovers and we were in possession of the hockey puck. That’s sport. We’re going to make mistakes. We made three critical mistakes and then it went downhill from there.” The Chiefs dropped their ninth consecutive playoff game, a streak that began with a 2012-13 second-round sweep by Portland. Tempers boiled over during the final 5:20 as several fights caused stoppage of play as officials sorted out the multiple penalties. By the end of the night, Spokane was whistled for 19 penalties for 87 minutes and Everett 14 for 69. Everett dominated the first 5 minutes of the game, outshooting Spokane 5-1 and forcing Garret Hughson to make a pair of difficult saves. The Chiefs stabilized for the final 15 minutes of the period but couldn’t take advantage of two power-play chances. On the second, Spokane had the man advantage for just 54 seconds before Adam Helewka was called for cross checking and the teams skated 4 on 4. Everett began the second period with 35 seconds of a power play. The Chiefs killed that power play and two more during the first half of the second period that came on Spokane roughing calls. Hart stopped Calder Brooks’ shorthanded breakaway attempt at 9:15 and Everett reached the second-period media timeout with a 9-2 advantage in shots. But the Chiefs drew first blood with 6:05 left in the period as Liam Stewart, positioned out front, deflected a shot past Hart. Spokane also had its third power-play chance a minute later, but the period ended with the Chiefs protecting a 1-0 lead. “We played awesome,” Nachbaur said of the first two periods. “We played the way we wanted to and tried to establish something in the series and I thought we did. We had to battle a lot of circumstances with penalties and we’re going to miss (players to time in the penalty box) because they go down. They go down and we’re going to see more of that.” Spokane will host Game 3 on Wednesday and Game 4 on Friday at the Arena.