Stadnyk’s goal surge rallies Silvertips to 5-1 win over Chiefs

EVERETT — Carson Stadnyk took it upon himself to make sure the Everett Silvertips didn’t lose the first game of their playoff series.

Stadnyk scored a hat trick in the first 4 minutes, 3 seconds of the third period, overturning a deficit and sending the Tips to a 5-1 victory over the Spokane Chiefs in Game 1 Friday night at Xfinity Arena.

Everett was trailing 1-0 heading into the third period. But Stadnyk used smart finishes to score three times in a 3:46 span to turn the game dramatically.

“That was huge,” Stadnyk said about starting the series with a win. “They took it to us the first 40 minutes. When we came into the room (for the second intermission) we had a big talk about it. The last 20, we should be playing the whole game like that, not just 20 minutes. To do that and get the first win of the series was huge for us.”

Ivan Nikolishin tacked on a pair of power-play goals later in the period as Everett won going away to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven first round playoff series. Game 2 is Saturday in Everett. Carter Hart earned the win in goal with 22 saves.

Liam Stewart scored the lone goal and Garret Hughson made 27 saves in net for Spokane, which resorted to physical intimidation after Everett went ahead 4-1 as the game devolved into a fight fest.

“That’s playoff hockey,” Stadnyk said about Spokane’s intimidation tactics. “We’ll see that through the whole series. We just have to be ready for that, it’ll be a lot of fun, and these games will get better and better from now on.”

The game was even through two periods, with Spokane being the only team able to find the net. The Chiefs were the more physical team, which led to penalties, but the Tips were ineffective on the power play.

But then Stadnyk, who scored 27 goals during the regular season, went to work at the start of the third. It was just 17 seconds in when he tied it up. Spokane defenseman Tyson Helgesen misplayed the puck behind his own net, giving a shooting opportunity to Dawson Leedahl in the slot. Hughson saved Leedahl’s shot, but Stadnyk banked the rebound in off the back of Hughson from behind the goal line to make it 1-1.

Stadnyk then gave the Tips the lead at 1:34. Everett’s pressure on the rush caused the puck to come loose in the slot. Stadnyk got to it, spun and fired a shot into the corner to make it 2-1.

Stadnyk completed his natural hat trick at 4:03. From a tight angle on the right he found the finest of holes above Hughson’s shoulder at the near post to send the hats flying.

“Honestly, I have now idea,” Stadnyk responded when asked what got into him at the start of the third. “It was just puck luck, I guess. It was a lot of fun.”

The Tips ended any thoughts of a Spokane comeback by scoring on the power plat at 11:31. Stadnyk was involved again, feeding the puck from behind the net to the slot to Nikolishin, who snapped a one-timer past Hughson to give Everett a three-goal lead.

There were no goals during an evenly-played first period that saw both teams have scoring chances. Everett nearly got on the board early in the game, but Jake Mykitiuk’s chance in front went of the crossbar, with Hughson perhaps getting a piece of it. Then midway through the period Riley Whittingham had a free run at goal, but Hart was able to kneel on the puck to keep it out.

Everett had the power plays in the second period, but was unable to generate anything, and it was Spokane that had the scoring chances and took the lead.

Spokane could have gone ahead midway through the period when Calder Brooks had a clear short-handed breakaway, but Hart made a good toe save to keep it scoreless. But Hart couldn’t keep the puck out at 13:55. Nick Charif took a shot from the right point with lots of traffic in front, and Stewart got a tip on the puck to deflect it into the far corner and give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead.

Slap shots

Everett continued to be without defenseman Tristen Pfeifer. Pfeifer missed the final 10 games of the regular season because of an upper-body injury. … Spokane winger Keanu Yamamoto took the warm-up, but was a late scratch for undisclosed reasons. The Chiefs were also without depth players Jacob Cardiff and Matt Sozanski because of upper-body injuries.

Silvertips 5, Chiefs 1

Spokane 0 1 0 — 1

Everett 0 0 5 — 5

First Period—no goals. Penalties—Betker, Everett (goaltender interference), 5:57; Helewka, Spokane (roughing), 11:31; MacDonald, Everett (hooking), 17:41; Helewka, Spokane (cross checking), 18:35.

Second Period—1, Spokane. Stewart 1 (Charif, Ka. Yamamoto), 13:55. Penalties—Brooks, Spokane (roughing), 3:32; Playfair, Spokane (roughing), 8:27; Low, Everett (high sticking), 14:58.

Third Period—2, Everett, Stadnyk 1 (Leedahl), 0:17. 3, Everett, Stadnyk 2, 1:34. 4, Everett, Stadnyk 3, 4:03. 5, Everett, Nikolishin 1 (Stadnyk, Bajkov), 11:31 (pp). 6, Everett, Nikolishin 2 (MacDonald, Davis), 18:56 (pp). Penalties—Skrumeda, Everett (cross checking), 4:32; Laday, Spokane (holding), 11:16; Zwerger, Spokane (roughing), 11:54; Wharrie, Everett (roughing), 11:54; Playfair, Spokane (roughing), 14:40; Olynek, Spokane (fighting), 14:40; McAndrews, Spokane (roughing-roughing-10-minute misconduct), 14:40; Mykitiuk, Everett (fighting), 14:40; Betker, Everett (roughing-roughing-10-minute misconduct), 14:40; Scherbak, Everett (10-minute misconduct), 14:40; Bechtold, Spokane (high sticking-fighting-game misconduct), 17:25; Whittingham, Spokane (fighting), 17:25; Charif, Spokane (10-minute misconduct), 17:25; Aasman, Everett (fighting), 17:25; Low, Everett (fighting-game misconduct), 17:25; Oneschuk, Spokane (10-minute misconduct), 19:48; Playfair, Spokane (elbowing), 19:56.

Shots on goal—Spokane 9-9-5—23. Everett 10-10-12—32. Power-play opportunities—Spokane 0 of 4. Everett 2 of 8.

Goalies—Spokane, Hughson 0-1 (32 shots, 27 saves). Everett, Hart 1-0 (23 shots, 22 saves).

A—3,358.

Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.