EVERETT — Landon DuPont saw Carter Bear cutting to the net and sent the puck in from the right point. The Everett Silvertips defenseman did not feel good about his shot line, but he hoped it could find its way to a teammate’s stick.

Overtime had just started in Game 5 of the WHL Playoffs second round at Angel of the Winds Arena on Friday, and for the second game in a row, the Silvertips allowed a late tying goal from the Kelowna Rockets to force the extra period. The Rockets pulled off the win in Game 4, avoiding the sweep and preventing Everett from advancing for at least two more days.

DuPont would not let that happen again. His shot from the point ripped through the traffic in front, hitting off Kelowna defenseman Keith McInnis’ skate and into the back of the net just 39 seconds into overtime. Game over, series over. With a 2-1 victory, the Silvertips advanced to the WHL Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2018.

Ironically, DuPont may have been the last person in the building to know about it, since his vision of the net was obstructed.

“I heard the crowd pop and skated towards (goaltender Anders Miller),” DuPont said. “He’s been the backbone of our team this whole series, so it was pretty special to celebrate with him and the rest of the team.”

Miller made 30 saves, and Bear scored the other goal for Everett, which eclipsed last season’s group that fell short in Game 7 of the second round against Portland. To do so, the team had to solve Kelowna netminder Josh Banini, who made 53 saves on Saturday after stopping all 29 shots he faced during the Rockets’ comeback win in Game 4, where he entered in relief early in the third period.

After 48 minutes and 43 shots on goal, Bear finally broke through, ironically while short-handed. Following a tripping penalty by Jaxon Pisani, Julius Miettinen and DuPont each made key blocks to prevent shots from reaching Miller on the penalty kill.

Moments later, Rylan Gould turned up ice from the neutral zone to spark a 3-on-2 rush. The 20-year-old forward dropped the puck back to Bear, who beat Banini at 11:34 of the third period to put Everett ahead 1-0.

“I think little plays like that, people don’t really notice those little blocks, and those little passes to each other,” Bear said. “It’s huge for us, and I think that’s how it builds up to our goals, and I think I (give) credit all to our PK for my goal.”

Banini had stopped 72 consecutive shots leading up to Bear’s goal, but both Bear and DuPont felt the key to finally getting past him was simply maintaining a high shot volume, which tends to fit the team’s play style anyway.

“I mean, Josh obviously came in, he had a couple of good games against us last year, and we know that we had a tough time getting under him,” DuPont said. “Obviously he came in on Wednesday and shut us out, which is hard. So I think just getting a lot of pucks on him tonight was the biggest key.”

Looking to pad the lead, Matias Vanhanen made a pair of offensive zone takeaways that directly led to shots on goal late in the game, but Everett could not capitalize before Kelowna tied it up.

With just 1:13 left in regulation, Shane Smith managed to tie it up on a shot through traffic with Banini pulled for an extra attacker. It marked the second game in a row that Smith scored such a goal, as the 21-year-old forward scored with less than eight seconds left in regulation in Game 4 before Tij Iginla scored the overtime winner to force Game 5.

The Rockets nearly scored again 30 seconds later with the Silvertips still shell-shocked, but Miller came up with a point-blank glove save on Hayden Paupanekis with 44.6 seconds left to preserve the tie. Hamilton chalked up the extra attacker goals to needing to fight harder to win puck battles and make clearances out of the zone, but he credited Miller for keeping overtime as an option.

“That was a point-blank (shot),” Hamilton said. “That was an unbelievable stop because I think at that point, we were probably still a little shaken, and (Miller) was incredible this series.”

Once in overtime, it did not take long for DuPont to capitalize. Selected with the first overall pick in the 2024 WHL Prospects Draft as an exceptional status 15-year-old, the star defenseman delivered his signature playoff moment for a Silvertips franchise desperate to win its first WHL Championship. It required a mentality shift after Game 4’s stunning defeat.

“It’s hard when they tie it up with a minute left,” DuPont said. “But I feel like on Wednesday, we didn’t do a great job of just resetting and forgetting about everything that happened prior, and (tonight) we just (instilled) a ‘next shift’ mentality, and I think that’s what really worked out for us.”

In addition to overcoming another late tying goal, Everett had to rebound from not one, but two overturned goals.

Jesse Heslop ripped a shot to the top right corner from the high slot midway through the second period, but right before the shot, officials blew the whistle on Luke Vlooswyk for interference at 13:04 to nullify the play.

Everett appeared to get on the board once again at 8:16 of the third period, as a Miettinen check led to a shot from Vanhanen that Rockets defenseman Mazden Leslie knocked away from the goal line. The official initially ruled that the puck crossed before Leslie sent it out, but the review showed it did not.

While neither goal ultimately counted, both were created by a heavy forechecking effort, which extended offensive zone possessions and led to more chances.

“That’s a big part of how we play,” Hamilton said. “I think since the day I got here, I think we’ve always talked about pressure and how important it is to apply it, how important it is to manage it against you, and when we really buzz and put teams in situations, we’re trying to force mistakes. And that’s the game you want to capitalize on, on a mistake that you create, and our guys are dialed in.”

The Silvertips will face the winner of the other Western Conference semifinal series between the Penticton Vees and Prince George Cougars, which Penticton leads 3-2. If the Vees survive and advance, Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals will take place on Thursday at Angel of the Winds Arena, with Game 2 on Saturday. If the Cougars pull out the series win, Games 1 and 2 will take place on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

As great as it felt for the team to punch its ticket to the conference finals in overtime, Everett will not be satisfied if the road ends there.

“That’s not really our goal,” Bear said. “Our goal is we want to win it all, but I guess it’s the process of the playoffs. I think one step at a time, one game at a time, so I think that’s how we’re taking it.”