Tipped Off
02-18-2006, 02:20 PM
New line leads Tips to victory
By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer
EVERETT - Everett Silvertips coach Kevin Constantine may have inadvertently stumbled upon something dastardly Friday night.
Forced by circumstance to craft a line out of his top three offensive talents - Peter Mueller, John Lammers and Zach Hamill, the trio responded with five goals and six assists, leading the Silvertips to a 6-3 victory over the Spokane Chiefs on Friday night.
"It was awesome out there, a lot of fun," Lammers said. "We haven't had a lot of success - me and Mueller and Hamill played together a couple of times. But tonight we just seemed to click."
The Tips went into the game already without Mueller's regular wingers, Torrie Wheat (foot), Ondrej Fiala (flu) and Karel Hromas (collarbone). Then late in the first period Lammers' and Hamill's regular partner, Brady Calla, had to be helped from the ice with a knee injury.
With so many of his top line players unavailable, Constantine decided to put Mueller into Calla's spot on the right with Lammers and Hamill.
The net result: a hat trick for Mueller, his third of the season, two goals and two assists for Lammers and three assists for Hamill.
"(Constantine) wanted to know if I wanted to jump up onto a line with Johnny and Zach," Mueller said. "I said, 'Sure, why not?' and our first shift it seemed we had some chemistry going. We played good out there tonight."
Calla later returned midway through the second period. But with Calla obviously slowed by the injury, Mueller remained with Lammers and Hamill the rest of the game. That proved decisive as Mueller broke a 3-3 tie with 6 minutes, 57 seconds remaining.
"It happened by accident," Constantine said of the line. "We really didn't intend to play Mueller as a winger. But when he didn't have wings and Calla went down, we talked between periods about who we could plug in for Calla. We just tried it and they definitely had a good game together.
"It's certainly a possibility (keeping the trio together). They looked awful good together," Constantine added. "But Peter's natural position is center, and Brady, Hamill and Lammers have been our best line all year, so it's hard to break that up. But certainly we learned it's something we can use as an option."
Mark Kress added an empty-net goal and Leland Irving made 15 saves for Everett (33-20-2-2).
Michael Grabner, Judd Blackwater and Drayson Bowman scored goals and Thomas Stehr made 26 stops in goal for Spokane (21-29-4-3).
The moment Mueller, Lammers and Hamill took the ice together early in the second period, it was apparent the Spokane defense was in for a difficult night. The trio flew around the ice and created quality scoring chances on just about every shift. Mueller scored twice in two minutes midway through the period to stake Everett to a 3-1 lead.
However, Blackwater and Bowman scored 25 seconds apart toward the end of the second period to tie it and make it a new game.
Enter Mueller again. Mueller stole the puck in the neutral zone, stick-handled his way toward goal and put a shot through Stehr for the game winner at 13:03.
"That's a good line, eh?," an impressed Spokane coach Bill Peters said. "That's as good as anyone can put on the ice. Obviously we didn't have the answer for it. That's what big-time players do, they step up and make big plays at big times."
Kress added his empty netter, then Lammers scored on a pretty feed from Mueller to complete the scoring.
Slap shots: Lammers' goals gave him 31 for the season, the first Silvertip ever to break the 30-goal barrier. He also now has 60 points, breaking the franchise record for points in a season. Wheat set the previous record last season with 57. ... Irving's victory was his 30th of the season. ... Though without Wheat, Fiala and Hromas, Everett did welcome back center Zack Dailey, who missed the previous two games with assorted minor ailments.
Silvertips 6, Chiefs 3
Spokane 0 3 0-3
Everett 1 2 3-6
First Period-1, Everett, Lammers 30 (Hamill), 6:06. Penalties-Salmonsson, Spokane (roughing), 0:23; Bowman, Spokane (interference), 7:23; Mueller, Everett (interference), 8:16; Bruton, Spokane (roughing-roughing), 8:49; Harty, Everett (roughing), 8:49; Spokane bench (roughing, served by Compton), 12:28; Harty, Everett (holding), 17:17.
Second Period-2, Spokane, Grabner 26 (Bruton, Hobson), 2:47. 3, Everett, Mueller 21 (Harty, Lammers), 6:24. 4, Everett, Mueller 22 (Hamill, Lammers), 8:20 (pp). 5, Spokane, Blackwater 5 (Spurgeon, Ryan), 17:44. 6, Spokane, Bowman 14 (Ryan, Salmonsson), 18:09. Penalties-Blackwater, Spokane (goaltender interference), 7:57; Haw, Spokane (roughing), 7:57; Fransoo, Everett (roughing), 7:57.
Third Period-7, Everett, Mueller 23, 13:03. 8, Everett, Kress 5 (Smyke), 17:53 (sh-en). 9, Everett, Lammers 31 (Mueller, Hamill), 18:41. Penalties-McCue, Spokane (checking from behind), 8:45; Fransoo, Everett (holding), 16:10; Ja. Lynch, Spokane (fighting-10-minute misconduct), 18:53; Sonne, Everett (fighting), 18:53.
Shots on goal-Spokane 7-8-3-18. Everett 11-10-11-32. Power-play opportunities-Spokane 0 of 2. Everett 1 of 6.
Goalies-Spokane, Stehr 6-7-2-2 (31 shots, 26 saves). Everett, Irving 30-18-1-2 (18 shots, 15 saves).
By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer
EVERETT - Everett Silvertips coach Kevin Constantine may have inadvertently stumbled upon something dastardly Friday night.
Forced by circumstance to craft a line out of his top three offensive talents - Peter Mueller, John Lammers and Zach Hamill, the trio responded with five goals and six assists, leading the Silvertips to a 6-3 victory over the Spokane Chiefs on Friday night.
"It was awesome out there, a lot of fun," Lammers said. "We haven't had a lot of success - me and Mueller and Hamill played together a couple of times. But tonight we just seemed to click."
The Tips went into the game already without Mueller's regular wingers, Torrie Wheat (foot), Ondrej Fiala (flu) and Karel Hromas (collarbone). Then late in the first period Lammers' and Hamill's regular partner, Brady Calla, had to be helped from the ice with a knee injury.
With so many of his top line players unavailable, Constantine decided to put Mueller into Calla's spot on the right with Lammers and Hamill.
The net result: a hat trick for Mueller, his third of the season, two goals and two assists for Lammers and three assists for Hamill.
"(Constantine) wanted to know if I wanted to jump up onto a line with Johnny and Zach," Mueller said. "I said, 'Sure, why not?' and our first shift it seemed we had some chemistry going. We played good out there tonight."
Calla later returned midway through the second period. But with Calla obviously slowed by the injury, Mueller remained with Lammers and Hamill the rest of the game. That proved decisive as Mueller broke a 3-3 tie with 6 minutes, 57 seconds remaining.
"It happened by accident," Constantine said of the line. "We really didn't intend to play Mueller as a winger. But when he didn't have wings and Calla went down, we talked between periods about who we could plug in for Calla. We just tried it and they definitely had a good game together.
"It's certainly a possibility (keeping the trio together). They looked awful good together," Constantine added. "But Peter's natural position is center, and Brady, Hamill and Lammers have been our best line all year, so it's hard to break that up. But certainly we learned it's something we can use as an option."
Mark Kress added an empty-net goal and Leland Irving made 15 saves for Everett (33-20-2-2).
Michael Grabner, Judd Blackwater and Drayson Bowman scored goals and Thomas Stehr made 26 stops in goal for Spokane (21-29-4-3).
The moment Mueller, Lammers and Hamill took the ice together early in the second period, it was apparent the Spokane defense was in for a difficult night. The trio flew around the ice and created quality scoring chances on just about every shift. Mueller scored twice in two minutes midway through the period to stake Everett to a 3-1 lead.
However, Blackwater and Bowman scored 25 seconds apart toward the end of the second period to tie it and make it a new game.
Enter Mueller again. Mueller stole the puck in the neutral zone, stick-handled his way toward goal and put a shot through Stehr for the game winner at 13:03.
"That's a good line, eh?," an impressed Spokane coach Bill Peters said. "That's as good as anyone can put on the ice. Obviously we didn't have the answer for it. That's what big-time players do, they step up and make big plays at big times."
Kress added his empty netter, then Lammers scored on a pretty feed from Mueller to complete the scoring.
Slap shots: Lammers' goals gave him 31 for the season, the first Silvertip ever to break the 30-goal barrier. He also now has 60 points, breaking the franchise record for points in a season. Wheat set the previous record last season with 57. ... Irving's victory was his 30th of the season. ... Though without Wheat, Fiala and Hromas, Everett did welcome back center Zack Dailey, who missed the previous two games with assorted minor ailments.
Silvertips 6, Chiefs 3
Spokane 0 3 0-3
Everett 1 2 3-6
First Period-1, Everett, Lammers 30 (Hamill), 6:06. Penalties-Salmonsson, Spokane (roughing), 0:23; Bowman, Spokane (interference), 7:23; Mueller, Everett (interference), 8:16; Bruton, Spokane (roughing-roughing), 8:49; Harty, Everett (roughing), 8:49; Spokane bench (roughing, served by Compton), 12:28; Harty, Everett (holding), 17:17.
Second Period-2, Spokane, Grabner 26 (Bruton, Hobson), 2:47. 3, Everett, Mueller 21 (Harty, Lammers), 6:24. 4, Everett, Mueller 22 (Hamill, Lammers), 8:20 (pp). 5, Spokane, Blackwater 5 (Spurgeon, Ryan), 17:44. 6, Spokane, Bowman 14 (Ryan, Salmonsson), 18:09. Penalties-Blackwater, Spokane (goaltender interference), 7:57; Haw, Spokane (roughing), 7:57; Fransoo, Everett (roughing), 7:57.
Third Period-7, Everett, Mueller 23, 13:03. 8, Everett, Kress 5 (Smyke), 17:53 (sh-en). 9, Everett, Lammers 31 (Mueller, Hamill), 18:41. Penalties-McCue, Spokane (checking from behind), 8:45; Fransoo, Everett (holding), 16:10; Ja. Lynch, Spokane (fighting-10-minute misconduct), 18:53; Sonne, Everett (fighting), 18:53.
Shots on goal-Spokane 7-8-3-18. Everett 11-10-11-32. Power-play opportunities-Spokane 0 of 2. Everett 1 of 6.
Goalies-Spokane, Stehr 6-7-2-2 (31 shots, 26 saves). Everett, Irving 30-18-1-2 (18 shots, 15 saves).