Brendan Canaday scored with 4:12 left in the third period to put the Silvertips in the lead for good as Shellbrook defeated the Meota Combines 7-5 at the Civic Centre Sunday night.
The Silvertips opened the scoring a minute into the first period on the power play. Brett Mason deflected Nick Martin's shot past Combines goaltender Carson Churchman.
They extended their lead three minutes later. Devon Dicus collected the puck in the slot and snapped it past Churchman to give the Silvertips a 2-0 lead early in the game.
Shellbrook ran into penalty trouble in the second half of the first. The Silvertips took two penalties on the same play, giving Meota a two-minute two-man advantage. The Combines used the power play to get back into the game. Derek Welford pounced on a rebound and shot it past Silvertips goaltender John Nelson to cut Shellbrook's lead in half.
Twelve seconds after the goal, Meota forward Brett Miller took a high sticking penalty. The Silvertips scored their second power play goal of the night with Miller in the box. Churchman made the initial save on Devin Waterhouse, but Devon Thorpe was able to slide the puck underneath the Combines goaltender to give Shellbrook a 3-1 lead.
Meota reduced the lead to one again before the end of the period. Bo Gervais and Brody Tatchell passed the puck back and forth as Gervais drifted to the front of the net. Tatchell found him in front of the net and Gervais beat Nelson.
In the second, Meota tied the game at three with Daxen Collins' unassisted goal. He chipped the puck through the Silvertips defenceman, dragged the puck around Nelson and used his backhand to knock it home as he was tripped by the goaltender.
The Silvertips regained their lead with nine minutes remaining in the period. Dicus got his second of the game as he jammed a rebound through Churchman to give Shellbrook a 4-3 lead.
It was a back and forth third period that saw action at both ends of the ice. Meota tied the game again eight minutes into the third. At the end of a Combines' power play, Miller slid the puck past Nelson's left pad to even the game at four.
The Silvertips regained the lead a minute later. Dicus snapped the puck off the rush past Churchman's glove. The goal completed Dicus' hat trick.
Shellbrook found themselves down two men again midway through the second. Meota made them pay again as Gervais redirected Trevor Knight's slap pass past Nelson to tie the game at five.
Canaday put the Silvertips up for good on the power play with 4:12 left. He gathered a rebound off a blocked shot and slapped it through traffic past Churchman.
The Silvertips iced the game with two minutes remaining. Mason forced a turnover at the Combines' blue line, but was stopped by Churchman. He gathered the rebound and passed it in front to Nathanial Martin, who found the open net to give the Silvertips the 7-5 win.
The best-of-five series is now tied 1-1. Game three is Tuesday night in Shellbrook. Puck drop is at 8:30 p.m.
