The Swift Current Broncos were faced with a mountainous task on SAturday night. They gave up the games first three goals at the Credit Union i-plex and had to try and come back on one of the WHL’s stingiest defenses and its best goalie.
The Broncos trailed by just one in Game 1 and were unable to get that tying goal. Saturday’s Game 2 was a different story.
The Broncos scored once in the second, once earlier in the third and then had Tyler Steenbergen net a marker with under two minutes left and goalie Stuart Skinner pulled for an extra attacker to force overtime.
Then Giorgio Estephan found a rebound in front and just like that they had come back from down 3-0 to win 4-3 in overtime and send the series to Everett tied at one game apiece.
Swift Current Broncos Head Coach Manny Viveiros was impressed with how hard his team worked to tie the game and then win it in the extra session.
“Our kids battled back and played hard. We still had 40 minutes to chip away at their lead and Stuart Skinner was outstanding after about the 10 minute mark. He gave us every opportunity to get back into the game. Once we got our legs going, we played well in the second, the third and in overtime. I thought Everett played really well again tonight and they could very easily have won the game tonight. No question we were very fortunate. I’m also happy with how we responded and came back and battled,” Viveiros said.
Something that Viveiros feels is paramount is his team’s faith in itself, even when tasked with a tough task like scoring four times on Carter Hart.
“This group really does believe and that’s the biggest and most important thing. You have to be able to believe.”
With the series tied at 1-1, Everett will host Game 3 on Tuesday, Game 4 on Wednesday and Game 5 on Friday of next week. If necessary, the game would switch back to Swift Current for a Game 6 and maybe a Game 7.
Everett jumped all over Swift Current in the first and flew out to a 3-0 lead.
Matt Fonteyne started the scoring after Sean Richards won a battle near center ice and hit him with a nice feed. Fonteyne solved Stuart Skinner’s glove, giving his team a 1-0 lead.
The Silvertips doubled their lead with a goal from a speedy player who has come up big multiple times in the playoffs. Martin Fasko-Rudas was hit with a cross-ice pass and fired a shot into Skinner’s glove with 9:49 left in the first.
Unfortunately for Skinner the puck trickled through his glove and inside the far post.
The goal was Fasko-Rudas’ fifth of the postseason, after he had just six in 70 regular season games.
Everett was not done though as Riley Sutter notched his seventh of the playoffs to make it a three-goal lead.
Ondrej Vala set up the goal with a gorgeous outlet pass to Garrett Pilon, who found a streaking Sutter at the back post.
That would not be the last great play Vala would make in this one.
Everett’s speed seemed to be too much for Swift Current as the Broncos were chasing the play and were out shot 17-10 in the opening period.
Viveiros lamented his team’s tough first period. “We never got off to the start we wanted to. We made a few mistakes in the first period and they capitzlied on them. So obviously we had to play catch up right away. We were fortunate to get out of that first period just down 3-0.”
The Silvertips are one of the harder teams to come back on in the WHL and thus the Broncos were faced with an extremely tough task.
A nice bounce would swing the momentum and get the Broncos going in the second. Matteo Gennaro’s shot was difficult enough for Hart that he coughed up a rebound in front. Kaden Elder could not bang the initial rebound in, but Gennaro followed up the play and found the puck in front for his ninth of the playoffs with 11:43 left in the second.
Gennaro would end the game with a goal and two assists, leading the way for the Broncos.
Everett had a glorious chance to make the score 4-1, but Skinner made a diving stop on Sutter after the second line center had cut around him and looked to have the whole net to look at. There were other great chances in that same sequence too.
Fonteyne reflected on those missed opportunities.
“Skinner is playing really well. He was the WHL Goalie of the Month for a reason. He’s going to make big saves. We can’t get too hung up on that and just need to keep throwing the puck on net and going to the net.”
Cutting that deficit down to one would be key as the Broncos finally had the better of play against the stingy Silvertips and out shot them 14-7 in the final frame.
Colby Sissons netted his fourth of the playoffs with 13:38 left in regulation to make this a one-goal game.
Beck Malenstyn’s chance did not get by Hart, but Everett could not clear and Sissons loaded up a slap shot that blew by Hart.
Trailing by one, Swift Current threw everything they could at Hart and Max Patterson did get a shot by him with a few minutes left. Unfortunately for the Broncos, Vala had tracked the play and slid across to stop the Gennaro shot in behind his goalie.
For the second night in a row, Swift Current was trailing by one late and were forced to pull Skinner for an extra attacker.
They looked really behind the eight ball with around 1:40 left as Connor Dewar flew down the ice and beat out an icing call. Sissons and him got tangled up behind the net and the skaters went the other way with the teams basically skating five on four.
A Gennaro chance almost beat Hart, but the WHL’s three-time goalie of the year made the stop. Gennaro then took a pass from Estephan in behind the net and that created the room to find a wide open Tyler Steenbergen. The two-time 50-goal scorer did not miss.
With 1:37 left the Broncos had done the seemingly impossible and came all the way back from three down to tie the defensively sound Silvertips.
Steenbergen recalled the euphoria his team was feeling after his tying goal. “It was unreal. The fans have been behind us throughout the whole playoffs and they have been helping us a bunch as the seventh man. To go into Everett now tied 1-1 is big.”
They very nearly beat Hart again before regulation had expired but he was able to keep the puck out with a slick stick save.
Everett had some great looks in overtime, but could not finish and that set the table for Estephan’s winner. He had two points in the game and has six in his last four games. The game winner was his third of the postseason with one being the overtime winner in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final.
Hart turned away 34 of 38, while Skinner stopped 40 of 43.
Everett was 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Broncos went 0-for-2.
Notes:
-Swift Current’s shot leaders were Estephan and Steenbergen who both had six apiece. Everett was led by Sutter’s seven.
-At the face off dot, Glenn Gawdin went 20-for-31, Estephan was 11-of-17 and Gennaro was 7-for-18. For Everett, Sutter was 11-for-27, Fonteyne went 13-of-30 and Reece Vitelli was 4-of-8.
-Gennaro was an impressive plus-four for the Broncos, meaning he was out there for all of their markers. Wyatte Wylie struggled with a minus-three rating for Everett.
-Vala had two assists for Everett, made key defensive stops and continues to be a force in his own end. Look for Everett Head Coach Dennis Williams to try and get him and Kevin Davis out there against Steenbergen and co. at every chance with the last change in the nest three games.
-Everett lost for the first time on the road this postseason. They are now 8-1.
-2,890 fans for the second straight night in Swift Current.
