Judy Simpson

Everett stays perfect on the road in the playoffs with 3-1 victory in Game 4

Behind 29 stops on 30 shots by goalie Carter Hart, the Everett Silvertips accomplished something that now has only been done five times over the past 13 years in the WHL and that is win your first six games on the road in the WHL playoffs.

More importantly with their 3-1 victory at the Toyota center on Thursday night, the Silvertips took a 3-1 series lead and can close out their first Western Conference title since their inaugural season back in 2004.

Since they entered the league back in the 2003-04 campaign, only four other franchises have won six straight on the road in the postseason.

Most recently, Seattle went 6-0 on the road in 2015-16 before losing Game 1 on the road in the WHL final.

Michael Rasmussen was a minus-two and had just one shot (photo-Judy Simpson)

Going back to 2010-11 Portland Winterhawks went 6-0 until they fell in Game 4 to Spokane in the Western Conference final.

During the 2008-09 playoffs, Calgary Hitmen went 6-0 until they lost to the Kelowna Rockets in Game 3 of the WHL final.

The only team to go a perfect 8-0 in the playoffs in the past 12 seasons, was the 2005-06 Vancouver Giants who went 8-0 on the road, winning the WHL.

If they do extend their perfect road record, the Silvertips are hoping to do so in the WHL final and not in Game 6 of the Western Conference final.

In their previous two playoff series prior to this one, Everett lost one of the first two games at home, took both on the road and then closed out in Game 5 at home to move on.

They will need to repeat that fete again on Saturday, or risk giving the talented Americans an opportunity to get back in the series.

The story Thursday was Hart being nearly perfect, all the while looking calm and in control. He stopped the first 20 shots Tri-City threw on him in the first 40 minutes and saw his team take a 2-0 lead.

Then after Tri-City got on the board in the third, the ‘Tips and Hart buckled down and iced the game with an empty netter late.

Patrick Dea bounced back from a rough outing on Monday, to make several great stops and keep this game scoreless midway through the second. He turned away 23 of 25 overall in the game.

Even when Tri-City changed up the top line and used last change to get them away from Sutter and co. they could not find the net (photo-Judy Simpson)

That was when Riley Sutter broke the 0-0 tie with his sixth of the playoffs.

It was an odd sequence as Anthony Bishop’s stick broke and after Sutter kept the puck in, Bishop got down and tried to glove it back to his goalie. Sutter got to it though and beat Dea for the 1-0 lead.

The ‘Tips then killed off the second of two power plays in the second and right afterwards found some insurance.

Reece Vitelli notched his fourth of the playoffs – which is double what he scored in 70 regular season games off a nice play at the boards near center ice by Bryce Kindopp.

Kindopp made it look like he was going to chip the puck up off the boards innocently and instead spun and found Vitelli breaking for a 2-on-1 rush. Vitelli then beat Dea blocker-side for the eventual game winner.

Tri-City found some life in the third, 5:45 in. They finally got a puck by Hart and it came off the stick of one of their hardest working players in this series.

Riley Sawchuk netted his second of the playoffs to cut the Everett lead down to one. Maxwell James drove the left wing and fought his way to the front where he got a shot low on net. Sawchuk was then able to find the rebound.

Dylan Coghlan nearly tied the game with his squad pressing late but his shot hit the cross bar in behind Hart.

Then with Dea pulled, Matt Fonteyne won a foot race to a loose puck and after being dragged down by Jordan Topping, was given an empty-net goal.

If the Americans are looking for some reasons why their season is on the line, they need to look no further than the lack of production they are getting from some of the players who got them this far by lighting up the score sheet on a regular basis.

Like they did to Kieffer Bellows, Cody Glass and Skyler McKenzie, the line of Garrett Pilon, Riley Sutter and Connor Dewar has done a fantastic job of shutting down the line of Morgan Geekie, Michael Rasmussen and Kyle Olson.

Olson was moved off the line and replaced with Nolan Yaremko, but the shake up did nothing to jump start the offense from their top six.

After putting up 24 points in eight games, Geekie has just two points in four games in this series. Rasmussen has four goals in the series, but only one has come on Hart during 5-on-5 play.

If the Americans can get those two going, the formula Everett developed in the first two rounds for closing out in five games could be in jeopardy

Notes:

-Tri-City was 0-for-3 on the power play and they are now 15-of-34 in the playoffs.

-Everett was 0-for-2 and they are 8-of-44 overall in the postseason.

-Jake Bean led Tri-City with six shots on net, while Patrick Bajkov had six for Everett, leading them.

-Sutter was 15-of-25 from the face off dot, while Matt Fonteyne went 5-of-22 and Vitelli was 4-of-8. For Tri-City, Yaremko was 6-of-14, Rasmussen went 10-of-11, Geekie was 5-for-12 and Sawchuk was 5-for-10.