Silvertips ring up easy win over T-birds

EVERETT — Ring those bells.

The Everett Silvertips handed out 1,500 cowbells before Friday night's game, a giveaway that took less than seven minutes.

The team then gave the lucky recipients plenty of chances to clang them, rolling to a 3-0 lead in the first period before skating away with a 5-2 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds in Western Hockey League action.

Kyle Beach, in his first game back after returning from training camp with the NHL Chicago Blackhawks, scored just 54 seconds into the contest and finished the night with two goals and a whole new attitude.

Beach took several punches to the face in the third period and didn't retaliate — until he scored on the ensuing power play, that is.

"It was great being back tonight," Beach said. "Scoring so fast was a bit of a dream come true. I wanted to get out there and get off a good start and show everyone that I'm here to play."

A crowd of 7,133 cheered every time Beach touched the puck. Selected 11th overall in the NHL draft by Chicago, Beach admitted he initially was disappointed he wasn't going to play in the league this season.

"I had a frown on my face for about two seconds," he said. "Then the smile immediately came back. I have best friends here and I was more than excited to be back in the lineup with them."

Beach said fighting was still going to be a part of his game, but only when it doesn't hurt his team.

"I don't have anything to prove," he said. "I'm going to stand up for my teammates, but I got the last laugh scoring that last one."

After falling behind by three, Seattle (1-6-0-0) cut the margin to a single goal when Thomas Hickey assisted on a goal by Prab Rai late in the first period and one by David Richard in the second.

The T-birds were dominating the third period, outshooting Everett 5-1, until they took an untimely penalty, on which Daniel Bartek scored his second goal of the game for the Silvertips (3-3-1-0) to make it 4-2.

"We hurt ourselves in the third period," Seattle coach Rob Sumner said. "We were really playing and felt the momentum changing, but we took the extra penalty [later] against Beach and we give away the next goal. We continue to do some things that really hurt our team in the end."

The T-birds also need better goaltending, with Jacob DeSerres struggling early before finishing the game with 28 saves on 33 shots.

"We know he can play better than that," Sumner said. "He, like a couple of others on our team, have to play through it and get going."