All Everett Silvertips in this one, as they avoid getting swept at home. Caden Zaplitny and Beau Courtney score goals in the first 4:14 and Everett never looked back. Zaplitny and Jesse Heslop each had 2 point games.
Everett, which going into the game only had 1 point outside of Jackson Berezowski, Austin Roest, and Aidan Sutter, had 9 of their 12 total points outside of those three. It’s the first game of the series where their depth has shown up.
It’s Portland’s worst game in a month, since a 10-3 loss in Everett in the regular season.
But the Winterhawks get another shot to close out the series in Game 5 Saturday night.
| 2:49 EVT Caden Zaplitny (Jesse Heslop) 0-1 | Heslop from behind the net with a nice surprise pass to Zaplitny, who had an open net as Jan Špunar couldn’t figure out where the puck was. |
| 4:14 EVT Beau Courtney (Matthew Paszkiewicz) 0-2 | On the rush, Courtney drops a pass for Paszkiewicz in the, goes to the net, and ends up wide open in front to put in a not-great rebound by Špunar. |
| 39:08 EVT (pp) Jackson Berezowski (Raphael Pelletier, Aidan Sutter) 0-3 | Pelletier’s long point shot–can’t tell if Berezowski deflected it or got the rebound. |
| 42:24 EVT Roan Woodward (Caden Zaplitny, Dexter Whittle) 0-4 | Zaplitny from the neutral zone gets it ahead to Woodward on the rush, and no Winterhawk picks him up. Woodward comes down the left wing, has a one on one with Špunar, and makes him bite badly on a fake, resulting in an open net. |
| 54:49 EVT Austin Roest (Jesse Heslop) 0-5 | Roest gets position on two Winterhawks in front and is there to deflect in Heslop’s centering pass. |
| Lead | Time |
|---|---|
| Portland leads by 2+ | 0:00 |
| Portland leads by 1 | 0:00 |
| Tied | 2:49 |
| Portland trails by 1 | 1:25 |
| Portland trails by 2+ | 55:46 |
Pregame: Everett trying to keep their season alive.
1st period: The two early goals set the tone. Shots were 9-6 in favor of Everett.
2nd period: Shots were 14-9 Everett, and they got the Berezowski goal in the last minute.
3rd period: Silvertips got the early one to put it out of reach.
Won on offense, defense, or special teams: Everett in all three.
Best team won?: Yes.
Injuries/suspensions: It doesn’t look like Ben Hemmerling is coming back for Everett. Aidan Litke went back out for Portland, which is worrying.
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jesse Heslop | EVT | 2 assists | 2 good setups, especially the first which got Everett on the board and set the tone. |
| Tyler Palmer | EVT | 27 saves-27 shots | Has played better than his numbers this series. |
| Caden Zaplitny | EVT | 1 goal, 1 assist | Kind of stings that he avoided a suspension and had a big game. |
| Beau Courtney | EVT | 1 goal | A big early goal to make it 2-0. |
| Aidan Sutter | EVT | 1 assist | |
| Jackson Berezowski | EVT | 1 goal | Hoping it’s not his last home game, but if it is he went out with a Berezowski-like goal. |
| Dexter Whittle | EVT | ||
| Roan Woodward | EVT | 1 goal | |
| Austin Roest | EVT | 1 goal | First time in the series he didn’t take more than half his team’s faceoffs. |
| Raphael Pelletier | EVT | 1 assist |
| Other notables | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan Špunar | POR | 31 saves-36 shots | Had a poor game, although it might not have mattered if he’d had a good one. |
| Robbie Fromm-Delorme | POR | 9-game point streak snapped. | |
| Jack O’Brien | POR | 3-game point streak snapped. | |
| James Stefan | POR | 3-game point streak snapped. | |
| Luca Cagnoni | POR | -3. | |
| Carter Sotheran | POR | -3. |
| Winterhawks | Silvertips | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 43-21-5-3 | 34-35-2-1 |
| Goal difference | +26 | -24 |
| Goals/game | 3.5 | 3.3 |
| Goals allowed/game | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| Power play | 24.2% | 20.7% |
| Penalty kill | 82.5% | 77.5% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| Power plays against/game | 4.1 | 3.5 |
| Outshooting opponents | 50-20-2 | 37-32-3 |
| After 1 period | 27-19-26 | 29-26-17 |
| After 2 periods | 32-25-15 | 33-31-8 |
| Score, last 10 games | 32-31 | 28-34 |
| Score, last 20 games | 52-66 | 57-76 |
Portland Winterhawks
A poor game, but to be honest, this team probably isn’t good enough to be sweeping even a 6 seed.
History is creeping back in…many of the same players lost a 3-1 series lead last season. Bottom line, however, is that they’re still the better team.
If they can close it out Saturday, they’ll have the right amount of rest for a series in Kamloops, which would start next Friday. Kamloops would probably have too much rest and have a little bit of rust. Saturday is a must-win to get that advantage.
Everett Silvertips
The good news for them is that they didn’t have a high-intensity game, so they’ll have more energy than you’d normally expect from a back-to-back game. But they still have a short lineup, and they’ll still have to win three games in four days.
Saturday vs. Everett, 6pm (Game 5)
Monday at Everett, 7pm (Game 6 if necessary)
Tuesday vs. Everett, 7pm (Game 7 if necessary)