Jordan Topping rallies Tri-City Americans past Everett in OT
Jordan Topping scored with 2:20 left in overtime as the Tri-City Americans rallied to beat the Everett Silvertips 6-5 on Sunday night before a crowd of 4,109 at Toyota Center in the final regular game of the season.
The Americans (41-28-3-0, 85 points), who finished the regular season on a three-game win streak, will face the Seattle Thunderbirds in the first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs.
Everett (44-16-9-3, 100 points), which won the U.S. Division and is the No, 1 seed in the Western Conference, will play Victoria in the playoffs.
Topping’s goal overtime goal finished off a hat trick and gave him 27 goals on the season. He also had an assist for a four-point night.
The Silvertips had a 5-3 lead with less than four minutes left in regulation, but the Americans never backed down.
Tri-City pulled goalie Rylan Parenteau for an extra attacker, and Topping scored his second of the night at 17:44 for a 5-4 game.
With just 1:27 left on the clock, and Parenteau back on the bench, defenseman Dylan Coghlan scored from the left circle to tie the score at 5-5.
Neither team would score again, sending the game to overtime.
Juuso Välimäki and Morgan Geekie also scored in regulation for Tri-City, which also got three assists from Tyler Sandhu and two from Coghlan.
Evan Sarthou posted 19 saves before being replaced in the third period by Parenteau, who had seven saves and picked up his 26 win of the season.
Brandson Hein scored twice and had an assist for the Silvertips, while Mario Petit finished with 39 saves.
TEAM AWARDS: The Americans handed out their team awards after the game, with Parenteau being named the team’s MVP for the season. He posted 26 wins this season with a 3.28 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.
Geekie was named Offensive Player of the Year after scoring 35 goals and 90 points in 72 games.
Parker Wotherspoon and Välimäki were named co-Defenseman of the Year, and Rookie of the Year honors went to Brett Leason.
Sandhu earned the Three Stars Award and was named the Most Sportsmanlike Player. Nolan Yaremko was named the Hardest Working Player, and Beck Warm was the Scholastic Player of the Year with a 4.0 GPA. The Todd Klassen Humanitarian Award went to Coghlan.
Americans 6, Silvertips 5 (OT)
Everett | 1 | 2 | 2 0 | — | 5 |
Tri-City | 1 | 1 | 3 1 | — | 6 |
First — 1, Evt, Hein 5 (Walker), 3:07. 2, TC, Geekie 35 (Sandhu, Välimäki), 6:12 (pp). Penalties — Everett bench (too many men, served by Babych), 5:38; Christiansen, Evt (delay of game), 5:54; Coghlan, TC (tripping), 11:54; Yorke, TC (roughing), 15:15; Yorke, TC (cross-checking), 18:30.
Second — 3, TC, Välimäki 19 (Sawchuk, Leason), 2:48. 4, Evt, Sutter 20 (Richards), 4:42. 5, Evt, Hein 6 (Babych, Wylie), 13:22. Penalties — Yorke, TC (interference), 7:44; Anderson, Evt (roughing), 16:32; Fuller, TC (roughing), 16:32; Richards, Evt (misconduct), 18:24; Anderson, Evt (interference), 18:49.
Third — 6, Evt, King 4 (Tuulola), 4:29. 7, TC, Topping 26 (Sandhu, Coghlan), 6:25. 8, Evt, Dewar 14 (King, Hein), 13:48. 9, TC, Topping 27 (Coghlan, Wotherspoon), 17:44. 10, TC, Coghlan 15 (Sandhu, Topping), 18:33. Penalties — James, TC (charging), 11:38.
Overtime — 11, TC, Topping 28 (Wotherspoon, AuCoin), 2:40. Penalties — none
Shots — Evt 13-8-9-0 — 30. T 13-14-15-3 — 45. Power plays — Evt 0-5. TC 1-3. Goalies — Petit 11-5-2-1 (45 shots-39 saves). TC, Sarthou (23-19), Parenteau 26-15-1-0 (4:29 of 3rd, 7-6). Referees — Brett Iverson and Mark Pearce. A — 4,109.
This story was originally published March 19, 2017 at 9:43 PM with the headline "Jordan Topping rallies Tri-City Americans past Everett in OT."