Victoria Royals aim to blanket Everett again

GAME DAY: VICTORIA AT EVERETT, GAME 5 7 p.m. at Xfinity Arena TV: None / Radio: The Zone 91.3 FM

One wonders if the Everett Silvertips knew what grade of sandpaper they were giving up when they traded Spencer Gerth to the Victoria Royals this season for a seventh-round bantam draft pick.

With no goals and just one assist in 51 regular-season and playoff games for Victoria, nobody will mistake the six-footthree, 200-pound winger for a high-end player. But Gerth has been a disruptive fore-checking and body-checking force against his old team — along with fellow lower-line Victoria players Ethan Price, Carter Folk and rookie Kaid Oliver — in the Royals versus Silvertips WHL opening round playoff series.

“We felt [Gerth] was going to be a great contributor,” said Victoria GM Cam Hope. “He has been that and more.” Hope said this best-of-seven series, which is deadlocked 2-2 heading into Game 5 tonight at Xfinity Arena in Everett, has been about: “Great goaltending, special teams and sheer will.”

The “sheer will” part of that equation is where the likes of Gerth, Folk, Oliver and Price step in, as they have played havoc on the Silvertips' vaunted structure and also their break-out patterns.

“We need contributions from everybody to win,” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry, making a point to mention the Silvertips are the Western Conference champions and this is a one-versus-eight seed matchup.

“We were looking for size and character when we traded [for Gerth].”

That patented Royals pressuring-at-all-points style extends to the skill lines as well.

“We’ve got to get on the forecheck and pressure Everett and see what happens,” said regular-season 50-goal sniper Matthew Phillips.

“We know we can’t sit back on them.”

Meanwhile, a certain aspect of this series has gone beyond a mere talking point. It cannot be overstated how important it is for the Royals to play with the lead. It is extremely difficult to mount a rally against the Silvertips, who built their conference top-seed status on the back of the stingiest defence and goaltending in the WHL.

The corollary is that during the regular-season and playoffs, the Royals are 28-1-2 when leading after one period and 34-1 when leading after two periods, including leading after both periods in Wednesday’s 2-1 victory in Game 4 and after the second period in the 4-3 win in Game 2.

A lead against Everett coaxes the Silvertips out of their suffocating style, that sucks the oxygen from the opposition if Everett is allowed to take the lead. Getting the jump on the ’Tips is a double whammy against them because they are themselves highly systematic and not built to rally from deficits. That’s why they have a habit of striking first and then hanging tight for victory. It's not pretty, but it works. It’s not about Everett’s number of opportunities offensively, but the quality of their chances.

“They are a quick-strike team,” warned Lowry.

Especially on the power play, where the Silvertips have scored seven times on the Royals in this series.

On the injury front, GM Hope said key missing Royals Jack Walker and Scott Walford, who have not dressed the last two games, are day-to-day.

“But I wouldn’t tell the media anything else even if they were both in body casts,” he said.

The WHL suspends its weekly injury report for the duration of the playoffs, and teams zealously guard the status of their players’ dings, bruises and aches this time of year.

ICE CHIPS: The sixth game of the series is a Sunday matinée at 2 p.m. at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.