Silvertips
Tired Silvertips blanked by Chiefs

By Jim Riley
Special to The Seattle Times

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EVERETT — It was understandable that in this record-breaking season there would be a bit of a letdown last night for the Everett Silvertips.

One night after breaking the record for wins by an expansion franchise, clinching a playoff berth and ensuring a record of better than .500, the Silvertips started slow and were never able to recover in a 2-0 loss to the Spokane Chiefs.

A crowd of 7,437 at the Everett Events Center did its best to spur on the Silvertips, but Spokane goaltender Jim Watt heard none of it, stopping all 24 shots he faced.

Everett remains tied for first in the U.S. Division with the Tri-City Americans with 74 points. Spokane moved nine points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds for the division's fourth and final playoff spot.

Everett coach Kevin Constantine said fatigue might have been the biggest factor as Everett completed a stretch of five games in six nights.

"We knew that was our roughest stretch of the year by far," Constantine said. "We're in a position now where we have six games left in the season and we're battling to win a championship, so we'll take it."

Everett was 0 for 7 on the power play, including a 50-second stretch when it had a 5-on-3 advantage.

"We had our chances," Constantine said. "Watt was good, but not overly tested. Spokane played a good, solid road game. They might have had a little more at stake in this game."

The teams, which split eight games this season, could face each other in the first round of the playoffs, when division rivals are pitted against each other.

"There's no doubt we were thinking about that," Spokane coach Al Conroy admitted. "We think we can play with anybody in the playoffs; we just need to go out there and prove ourselves to ourselves. We played a good game against a very good Everett team."
 
Spokane's Ned Lukacevic scored the eventual game-winner when the Silvertips, who went more than 12 minutes at the start of the game without a shot, got a little loose in their own end.

Chad Klassen skated free behind the net and fed a wide-open Lukacevic in front of Everett goaltender Mike Wall. Lukacevic's hard shot brushed off Wall into the back of the net 13:37 into the first period.

Constantine pulled his goaltender with a little more than three minutes left, and Spokane's Gustav Engman scored an empty-netter with 1:05 left in the game.

Game at a glance

Chiefs 2, Silvertips 0

Spokane	1 0 1 — 2
Everett	0 0 0 — 0

First — 1. Spokane, Lukacevic 18 (Klassen) 13:37. Third — 2. Spokane, Engman 2 (un) 18:55 (en). Shots on goal — Spokane 6-13-8 — 27. Everett 3-12-9 — 24. Power plays — Spokane 0-3, Everett 0-7. Goalies — Spokane: Watt (W,13-14-1). Everett: Wall (L,12-11-3). Att — 7,437.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company