Everett Silvertips score six unanswered goals on the Portland Winterhawks to even the series at one.

There was a playoff hockey game in Everett tonight, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying my thoughts weren’t completely on the game.

Before the puck dropped, every player from both sides stood side by side across the red line, and held a moment of silence to honor the members of the Humboldt Broncos hockey club whose lives were lost yesterday. Afterwards the Canadian national anthem was played while the Humboldt Broncos logo lit up the big screen over the ice.

It’s times like this that remind me just how special the hockey community is. No matter how much fighting there is on the ice, how heated rivalries may get, it really is just one big family. The Silvertips announced early on that the proceeds from the 50/50 raffle would be donated to the families of Humboldt, and the fans responded by raising over $11,000.

If you want to help with expenses for the families affected, you can donate here.

Now on to the hockey game.

Everett came out firing in the first. The Tips got their first lead of this series just over a minute into the game, when Richards was able to redirect a shot from Christiansen to make it 1-0. Everett extended their lead later in the period. Fonteyne flipped a pass through the Portland defense to Bajkov, who netted his first of the series after a nice little deke around Kehler. Portland got their fair share of chances in the period, but Carter Hart played like he had already allowed his goal quota for the weekend and stopped all 10 shots he faced.

The second period kicked off with more back and forth action, but Everett really put their foot down on the gas and never looked back. Wylie threw a puck to the net and Fasko-Rudas poked the rebound in to make it 3-0 Tips. Thirty seconds later Everett went back on the powerplay, and Bajkov found another big juicy rebound and all 6 feet of the net wide open.

“That’s what happens, you get to those areas,” Coach Williams said of the rebound opportunities. “Against a good goalie like that and a good team you gotta generate second, third opportunities sometimes to score.”

Bajkov’s second of the night made it 4-0 Everett. Portland got more chances for the next 10 minutes but Carter Hart stood tall. Then with just under 5 minutes to play, Pilon put a snap shot top shelf to make it 5-0 Everett.

The Tips were able to lean on their 5 goal lead and coast through the third. The two teams racked up a combined 34 minutes in minor penalties, somewhat expected in a 5-0 game. Everett found themselves on the powerplay with under 3 minutes to play, and just for fun, Bajkov completed his hat trick to make it a 6-0 game. Carter Hart bounced back in a major way and made 26 saves en route to his second shutout of the postseason. Everything went right for Everett in game 2, but Coach Williams knows not to expect the wins to come that easy the rest of the series.

“Tomorrow’s a new day, so enjoy tonight and get up and get focused on Tuesday again.”

The series is now tied at 1 game apiece and will move to Portland this Tuesday at 7:00.