Topping nets game-winner in OT as Tri-City knocks off Everett
Jordan Topping scored the game-winner in overtime as the Tri-City Americans knocked off the Everett Silvertips 4-3 on Wednesday night at Xfinity Arena.
Everett (20-3-5-0, 45 points), which leads the U.S. Division and was ranked third in this week’s CHL poll, led 2-0 late in the second period before the Americans (18-11-2-0, 38 points) stormed back.
“It’s not easy to score on them, they lock things down pretty tight,” Tri-City coach Mike Williamson said of Everett, which has allowed a paltry 52 goals this season. “Once we got skating and moving our feet, we were opportunistic. We got a couple of goals to get us back in the game. (Morgan) Geekie’s goal in the second gave us life, and that was huge.”
Geekie scored at 17:51 of the second period, then potted his second goal of the night at 8:53 of the third on the power play to tie the score at 2.
Working on a power play, Kyle Olson took a pass from Dalton Yorke and beat Everett goalie Carter Hart for Tri-City’s first lead of the game at 14:36.
With time winding down, Patrick Bajkov scored on the man advantage for Everett with 1:31 to play in regulation to knot the score at 3.
Topping, in his second game back from an ankle injury that wiped out 29 games of the season, scored at 2:04 of overtime for the win.
“We knew we missed him,” Williamson said. “It’s great to have him back. The biggest thing is his leadership. He wants to win. That was a big goal for us.”
Evan Sarthou finished with 26 saves for the Americans, who are 3-2 against the Silvertips this season. Parker Wotherspoon handed out two assists and has 24 on the season.
Noah Juulsen and Jake Christiansen also scored for Everett, while Hart had 16 saves in his final game before he heads to Team Canada’s World Junior tryout camp.
Tri-City will host Kelowna on Friday and Victoria on Saturday in the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss Game.
Americans 4, Silvertips 3 (OT)
Tri-City | 0 | 1 | 2 1 | — | 4 |
Everett | 2 | 0 | 1 0 | — | 3 |
First — 1, Evt, Juulsen 8 (Zwerger, Bajkov), 9:29. 2, Evt, Christiansen 2 (Skoleski), 14:34. Penalties — Lukin, TC (interference), 2:55; Wotherspoon, TC (charging), 11:16; Geekie, TC (cross-checking), 16:16; Dewar, Evt (hooking), 18:53.
Second — 3, TC, Geekie 13 (Wotherspoon), 17:51. Penalties — Yorke, TC (interference), 5:48; Onyebuchi, Evt (slashing), 12:30.
Third — 4, TC, Geekie 14 (Sandhu, Wotherspoon), 8:53 (pp). 5, TC, Olson 9 (Yorke, Wotherspoon), 14:36. 6, Evt, Bajkov 15 (Zwerger, Davis), 18:29 (pp). Penalties — Olson, TC (holding), 2:07; Sutter, Evt (tripping), 7:36; Geekie, TC (high-sticking), 17:36.
Overtime — 7, TC, Topping 2 (Geekie, Coghlan), 2:04. Penalties — None.
Shots — TC 6-8-4-2 — 20. Evt 7-10-12-0 —29. Power plays — TC 1-3. Evt 1-6. Goalies — TC, Sarthou 4-2-1-0 (29 shots-26 saves). Evt, Hart 15-3-4-0 (20-16). Referees — Mike Langin and Troy Paterson. A — 3,464.
This story was originally published December 7, 2016 at 10:10 PM with the headline "Topping nets game-winner in OT as Tri-City knocks off Everett."