Everett Staves off Elimination with 3-2 Win in Game 5

The Everett Silvertips were one win away from being eliminated in the first round coming into Saturday night. Instead of giving up they showed a lot of fight however and forced Portland to make another road trip up i-5 for Game 6 Monday night.

Everett jumped out to the early lead, just over 10 minutes in when Portland Defenseman Josh Hanson went for the shot block on Everett Forwad Joshua Winquist. Hanson instead obstructed his Goaltender: Mac Carruth's view and is was 1-0 Everett. The goal was Winquist's 6th of the series. At the 13:41 mark of the period, Carruth went to pass the puck to Hanson behind the Portland net and the puck bounced off Hanson's skate right to a waiting Logan Aasman, to make it 2-0 Everett after one period of play.

Logan Aasman

It would get no better for Portland in the second, despite out-shooting Everett 17-4. Everett would get the only goal of the period after Ty Rattie and Brendan Leipsic failed to convert a 2 on 0 break. Tip's Goalie Austin Lotz sent a the puck quickly the other direction and Reid Petryk capitalized on a breakaway to make it 3-0 after 2.

The Hawks would not go quietly into the night in the 3rd period, however and scored 2 different power play goals in the period. First, 5:59 into the period, Leipsic deflected a Troy Rutkowski point shot to make it 3-1. Then, after the Hawks pulled Carruth to make it 6 on 4, Derrick Pouliot blasted a shot past Lotz with 1:25 left in the game. The Hawks would keep the pressure dialed up and appeared to put one in with around 10 seconds left in the game after a mad scramble, but referee Kevin Bennett ruled no goal.

Troy Rutkowski

Carruth made 15 saves on 8 Everett shots. Lotz out-did him in this one with 43 saves on 45 shots.

Portland entered the game 39% in the series on their power play and went 2/5 in this one. Everett was 0/2.

3 Stars:
#3- Joshua Winquist- By far Everett's best forward this series, has 6 goals, which ties him with Rattie for the series lead.
#2- Troy Rutkowski- Easily the Hawks best D-man in this game. 2 Assists in the game and jumped up into the play creating many scoring opportunities.
#1- Austin Lotz- Won another game in Portland. He made 43 saves and again robbed Taylor Leier a couple times

Austin Lotz

Random Notes:
-Portland inserted Joe Mahon into the lineup removing Keegan Iverson.
-After the final whistle there were again more shenanigans with Ben Betker putting a stick in the ribs of Leipsic. Ty Rattie jumped to his defense and was then jumped by both Betker and Dawson Leedahl. All this occurred while most of the Everett team was on the ice celebrating.
-Everett did a fantastic job in this one, keeping the passing lanes blocked.
-Victoria beat Kamloops 4-2, to extend their series to a Game 6.
-Spokane closed out Tri City with a 3-1 victory.
-Kelowna extended their series to a Game 6 in Seattle with a 4-3 win.
-Tyler Wotherspoon was signed to a 3 year entry level deal with the team that drafted him: the Calgary Flames.