Carter Hart and Silvertips blank Thunderbirds 3-0
Nov 24, 2016, 9:09 AM
EVERETT – It turns out that the Everett Silvertips had the perfect antidote to the hot Thunderbirds offense on Wednesday night.
Silvertips’ goalie Carter Hart stymied the T-Birds all night as Everett shut out Seattle 3-0 at Xfinity Arena.
Hart made 37 saves as the T-Birds created a ton of chances against the reigning CHL goalie of the year. Everett struck twice in the first period on goals by Matt Fonteyne and Riley Sutter to provide all the offense that the Silvertips needed.
“We didn’t finish on some of our chances and we created quite a few,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “We’ve got to capitalize.”
The T-Birds did generate a ton of chances, especially in the first period when they out shot Everett 18-8. Seattle went on an early power-play chance in which it fired six shots at Hart but the Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect turned them all aside.
However, despite the heavy shot disparity, the Silvertips were able to capitalize on a couple of T-Birds mistakes to take the lead.
Seattle took a penalty and the Silvertips would get a goal on the first shot with the extra skater. Riley Sutter centered a pass to Fonteyne who banged it past goalie Rylan Toth for his fifth of the year. Ten minutes after that Toth misplayed a puck behind his own net, got bumped by his own guy and could not get back in front to stop Sutter from scoring.
“On the PK we could have done a better job on the entry for sure and then we were real casual there and it led to a goal,” Konowalchuk said. “I don’t think they had a lot of chances but they scored on a couple early.”
Toth appeared to be injured after the second goal and as the second period began back up Matt Berlin took over in net. Toth would not return and his night ended with six first-period saves.
The T-Birds continued to generate chances and missed on some golden opportunities. Scott Eansor, who came into the game on a five-game goal scoring streak hit the cross bar on a breakaway in the first. In the second period Eansor and Sami Moilanen just missed connecting on a two-on-one chance. Donovan Neuls would then be stopped by Hart on a breakaway later in the period.
“That’s hockey,” Konowalchuk said. “It’s a long season and we generated a lot of chances and we’ll keep working on continuing to bury them and still try to get more traffic in front of the net.”
Neither team scored in the second period and Everett would score early in the third period to effectively put the game out of reach. After a Seattle turnover at the blue line, Everett’s Orrin Centazzo took off down the ice alone and beat Berlin for his second goal to make it 3-0.
Berlin played a strong game after coming in relief. He ended up making 15 saves over his two periods.
“He played really well,” Konowalchuk said. “He gave us a chance and only gave up one in two periods. Again, if we score a goal there it could have been a whole different game.”
Seattle’s 37 shots were the third most that Everett has allowed on the season so there were some positives for the T-Birds. The problem was Hart and giving up a couple of chances that the Silvertips capitalized on.
The T-Birds will continue a stretch of four games in five days with a Friday night match up in Kennewick against the Tri City Americans.
“We’ll take the positives,” Konowalchuk said. “I mean we came in and put up a lot of shots and played with pace to start the game. If we come out with a 2-0 lead it’s a different game.”
Notes
• The shut out was the first time that the T-Birds have failed to score this season. Coming into the game they had scored four or more over their last five games.
• Konowalchuk did not have an update on Toth’s status after the game. Carl Stankowski is still out injured as well and its not clear if he will be able to go on Friday. That would leave Berlin as the only goalie able to play against Tri City.
• Seattle’s power play went 0-for-3 on the night while the Silvertips ended up 1-for-5.
• Berlin has played well for the T-Birds in his limited time. Wednesday was his second appearance with the T-Birds and he improved his goals-against-average to 1.23 and his save percentage to .957.
