KENT — The Everett Silvertips played their final game before the trade deadline Friday night. They’re giving general manager Doug Soetaert something to think about.

The Tips won their fifth straight game by defeating the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-0 at ShoWare center before a regional television audience.

Thomas Heemskerk made 21 saves in goal to record the shutout as Everett is now in the midst of its longest winning streak of the season. The victory also moved the Tips past Spokane into fourth place in the Western Conference, a position which would give Everett home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

And with the trade deadline on Sunday, Soetaert now must decide whether to make a deal in an attempt to put the Tips over the top, or whether the team is good enough to move ahead as is.

“He’s got to be happy with us right now,” exclaimed Everett winger Shane Harper, who scored his 26th goal of the season to reclaim the team lead from Tyler Maxwell.

Sixteen-year-old Josh Winquist added a goal in his second straight game, and Alex Theriau scored his first of the season as the Tips skated to a drama-free victory. Winquist and Harper scored in the second period to put Everett ahead 2-0, then the Tips salted the third period away before finishing it off with Theriau’s late power-play goal.

Heemskerk had a relatively easy day at the office as the Tips outshot the T-birds 37-21 and controlled the territorial battle.

“Tonight I thought we worked hard for 60 minutes,” Everett coach Craig Hartsburg said. “We didn’t make too many mistakes with the puck, especially. We kept going at it, there were no real lapses in the game, which is good.”

Calvin Pickard finished with 34 saves in goal for Seattle (13-23-2-4), which lost its sixth straight.

The Tips’ winning streak may have changed the complexion of Everett’s season. Prior to the current streak, the Tips were a team going backwards, losing 10 of their previous 13 and slipping to sixth in the conference. A continuation of that lull could have put the Tips in limbo with regards to the trade deadline.

But the winning streak has the Tips looking like potential contenders again, especially considering the past four games have all been on the road.

“It feels good, I’ll tell you,” Harper said about the streak. “We tried to put a streak together before Christmas and we weren’t too successful then. I think now we’re finally playing the way we want.”

After a scoreless first period that saw little in the way of scoring chances, Everett gradually took control in the second and was rewarded with two goals to go ahead 2-0.

The Tips opened the scoring at 6 minutes, 42 seconds. Scott MacDonald drove the net with the puck, and although it was knocked off his stick, Winquist pounced on the loose puck and banged it past Pickard to make it 1-0.

The goal continued Winquist’s recent emergence. The young rookie didn’t record a point in his first 23 games, but he earned additional ice time this week and responded with his first career goal during Everett’s 6-2 victory in Kelowna on Wednesday. His second career goal came considerably faster.

“He’s a smart player,” Hartsburg said of Winquist. “It takes a while for 16-year-olds to pick up the pace and the tempo and the compete level. He’s learning, he’s getting better and it’s good to see a young guy get some rewards.”

Everett doubled its lead at 16:37. An odd bounce off the glass kept the puck in the Seattle zone, with Clayton Cumiskey taking it into the left corner. Cumiskey fed Harper cutting to the net, and Harper stickhandled through traffic and around Pickard to make it 2-0.

Everett’s lead was rarely threatened in the third, and the Tips put it away with 3:21 remaining when Theriau scored after Kellan Tochkin’s shot rebounded off the crossbar.

Slap shots

Everett played without center Byron Froese. The team’s fourth-leading scorer had a family commitment. … Call-up center Tyler Giebel, a 16-year-old who was Everett’s second-round pick in the 2008 bantam draft, made his WHL debut. … Seattle played without a familiar face as enforcer Sena Acolatse was traded to Saskatoon before the game in exchange for winger Burke Gallimore.

Silvertips 3, Thunderbirds 0

Everett021—3

Seattle000—0

First Period—no goals. Penalties—Warg, Seattle (holding), 3:13; Gudas, Everett (elbowing), 6:28.

Second Period—1, Everett, Winquist 2 (MacDonald, de la Lande), 6:42. 2, Everett, Harper 26 (Cumiskey), 16:37. Penalties—Alos, Seattle (high sticking), 14:07; Maxwell, Everett (roughing), 18:22; Warg, Seattle (roughing), 18:22.

Third Period—3, Everett, Theriau 1 (Tochkin, Dailey), 16:39 (pp). Penalties—Rissanen, Everett (holding), 3:10.

Shots on goal—Everett 10-14-13—37. Seattle 6-6-9—21. Power-play opportunities—Everett 1 of 3. Seattle 0 of 3.

Goalies—Everett, Heemskerk 13-8-1-1 (21 shots, 21 saves). Seattle, Pickard 11-19-2-4 (37 shots, 34 saves).

A—3,720.

Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog: http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog