Brian Liesse

Everett stifles Swift Current in Game 1 of the WHL final 2-1

For the first time in the 15 year history of the Everett Silvertips they have won a game in the WHL Championship Series.

Their only previous trip to the WHL final saw them get swept by the Medicine Hat Tigers in 2004.

Friday night at Credit Union i-plex, the road warrior Silvertips edged the Swift Current Broncos 2-1 and took Game 1, extending their road record in the playoffs to 8-0.

No team has gone 8-0 on the road in the playoffs, since the Vancouver Giants did it in 2006.

Everett Head Coach Dennis Williams knew how tough it would be to open the series with a road win.

“I thought we did a really good job. Being the first game in a road building here – where it’s tough to play, we got a great power play goal to start. In the third, we played the way we should play and it was what we needed. We played a good 200 foot game. We backed up each shift with a positive every time.”

Not surprisingly to get their first ever win in the WHL final, the Silvertips were led to victory by the first ever back-to-back WHL goalie of the year ever and their first WHL MVP.

Carter Hart notched another accomplishment off of a very long list as he stopped 34 of 35 and was named the game’s top star.

(Photo by Christopher Mast/Icon Sportswire)

Hart was comfortable in his first WHL final game. “I felt really good in the net and we did a good job of limiting their chances. We kept them to the outside and they did a great job with our d-zone coverage. The blocks that the whole team did during the game showed what this means to us,” Hart said.

The only goal in Game 1 that did not come generated off of the man advantage was a redirect by Connor Dewar – the game winner. He had six in the regular season, but this is first in the playoffs.

The line of Riley Sutter, Connor Dewar and Garrett Pilon created lots of problems for Swift Current with their speed, though the winning goal came off a set play.

Dewar knew that the best defense against Swift Current’s top line – who his unit was often paired against, is a good offense. “We just tried to minimize their chances by maximizing ours,” Dewar said.

Swift Current came out and looked to deliver a message early in the first period as they delivered check after check, appearing to let Everett know that they are the bigger team.

The Broncos have 11 players listed at 200 pounds or more, while the Silvertips have just six.

Williams was not surprised at how Swift Current came out. “I think every team plays with aggression and the physicality was definitely there to start the game. Their crowd was into it. We knew about it and we had to be ready to embrace it. Also, we had to be ready to give it back to them and I thought our push back was good without taking penalties.”

That physical effort by Swift Current though ended up putting the Broncos on the penalty kill though as Beck Malenstyn got his knee out on a check in the Everett zone and was called for kneeing.

On the power play, Patrick Bajkov took a feed down low from Kevin Davis and with Josh Andersen engaged with Connor Dewar in front, he got around Broncos goalie Stuart Skinner, tucking the puck inside the far post.

The goal was Bajkov’s 14th of the playoffs and third in his last two games.

Everett got into penalty trouble of their own in the second as Garrett Pilon took a tripping penalty five second after Tyler Steenbergen and Bajkov were both taken off for roughing.

The led to a 4-on-3 power play where Aleksi Heponiemi set up a couple glorious chances that Carter Hart had to stop.

Hart’s best was when he had to dive over to his right and get a shoulder on a point-blank shot from Glenn Gawdin.

Seconds after the teams finally got to five skaters aside Heponiemi sneaked down low and got his stick on a back door pass from Matteo Gennaro to tie the game.

“Obviously you have to get to the net. I got a really good pass and got a goal. Heopfully I will get another one tomorrow (in Game 2).”

Heponiemi, known more for his set up abilities has all four of his playoff goals in his last seven games.

Connor Dewar (Chris Mast/Everett Silvertips)

Everett and Swift Current exchanged some chances later in the second, but they also exchanged pleasantries on more that one occasion as it did not take long for these two teams to rub each other the wrong way,

The Silvertips got back on top 1:29 into the third as Ondrej Vala’s point shot got through a couple Broncos attempting to block and Dewar’s stick redirected it by Skinner.

Dewar, who netted just 14 goals in last year, found the mark 38 times in 2017-18 and has kept that going in the playoffs with 10 goals in 17 games.

Then after Everett took their lead, Swift Current discovered what so many Western Conference teams already knew, the Silvertips are tough to come back on.

That did not mean the talented and experienced Broncos did not have a chance to tie. Matteo Gennaro found a bouncing puck in the slot and was robbed by Hart with not much time left.

Swift Current then used their timeout and pulled Skinner for an extra attacker. Sutter and Everett did a great job of pinning the puck deep though and the Broncos never got a decent look with six skaters.

Swift Current Head Coach Manny Viveiros lamented about how tough Everett made it on them to create scoring chances.

“We expected that out of them. They made it really hard for us to get to the net-front areas. They came as advertised. They battle really hard for loose pucks, especially in their zone along the walls and in front of their net.

“We have to be better at getting the puck to the net tomorrow,” Viveiros said

For the Broncos, Skinner turned away 23 of 25. He remarked that the winning goal was a strange one. “It was kind of a bad bounce. It was coming up high – it was a high tip and obviously we didn’t get a high stick. I saw it going up, so I tried to get my body in front of it. He tipped it and the puck went down. It was a tough one for me.”

Everett’s power play was 1-for-2, while Swift Current’s went 0-for-1.

Notes:

-Everett again lost the face off battle with Swift Current winning 31 of 53.

-For Everett, Sutter was 11-of-25, Matt Fonteyne was 5-for-14 and Reece Vitelli went 6-of-11.

-For Swift Current, Gawdin was 12-of-21, Gennaro went 9-for-16 and Giorgio Estephan was 9-of-15.

-The shot leaders for Swift Current were Gennaro, Steenbergen and Gawdin who all had four apiece. Everett was led by Wyatte Wylie’s six shots.

-Game 2 goes tomorrow night in Swift Current. Swift Current will need the split even more now that Everett gets three straight at Angel of the Winds Arena.

-All quotes were received from the WHL.ca live postgame feed.