Everett 2, Portland 1

TALKING POINTS

Everett earned its second win of the preseason, building a 2-0 lead with a pair of second-period goals, then hanging on in the third when Portland pressed.

This was a coming-out party for Everett's young defensemen. The Tips began the game with overager Landon Oslanski and five rookies on defense. Then Oslanski received a game misconduct late in the first period for fighting (all fights in the preseason come with a game misconduct attached). Veteran Lucas Grayson, who began the game as a forward, moved back to defense to help. But then Tye Hand also was booted for a fight in the second period, and Grayson was given a 10-minute misconduct in the aftermath. When Ben Betker -- the longbeard of the D at that point at 17 years and 11 months -- took a cross checking penalty shortly after, it left the Tips with 17-year-olds Mirco Mueller and Cole MacDonald (MacDonald is actually still 16 as he's a late birthdate, too) and 16-year-old Micheal Zipp to kill the penalty. But they got the job done.

The Tips have some tough decisions on defense. MacDonald and Zipp, who are both battling for a roster spot, played extremely well. I have a hard time seeing how Everett can keep Zipp, considering how young the defense is as a whole and that Zipp would be required to play 40 games as a 16-year-old. But he's certainly making an argument.

Speaking of the fights, this game had a far different feel than the first two Tips games this weekend as this one was very feisty -- 39 penalties for 152 penalty minutes and several scrums, including one at the final horn. Portland had a lot of prospective rookies in the lineup who are penalty-minute guys, and I think they wanted to show something to coach/GM Mike Johnston. Everett coach Mark Ferner said afterward he was happy to see his players stick up for one another.

As for Portland, this was the first chance to see Seth Jones play against the Tips. Jones is, of course, a big name in Everett's world. The superstar defenseman was originally drafted by the Tips, but this summer he said he wouldn't play for Everett and the Tips were forced to trade him to Portland. So what did we see from him today? For the most part he wasn't real noticeable. But that was in a very Ryan Murray-like way, in that he showed little flash but always seemed to make the right play -- it's too bad we'll never get to see a Murray-Jones pairing. Jones received sporadic boos from the Everett crowd each time he carried the puck.

Also for Portland, it seems 16-year-old Keegan Iverson is well on his way to becoming the new Brad Ross. I could easily see him becoming the Portland player who the rest of the U.S. Division fans love to hate.

TURNING POINT

There wasn't much happening offensively in the game until early in the second, when a mishandled puck by Portland's Brendan Leipsic turned into a breakaway goal for Everett's Dawson Leedahl to open the scoring.

HIT OF THE DAY

I have to be honest, I think I missed it today. Every time there was a big reaction from the crowd I was following the puck instead of the follow through on the hit.

THREE STARS

No stars in the preseason.

BOX SCORE

Everett 2, Portland 1