Tips end preseason with a win

Everett finished off the preseason in victorious fashion Saturday night, defeating Seattle 4-1 in Kent.

Everett built a 3-0 lead late into the second period, then clinched it with a late empty netter. Tyler Sandhu, Carson Stadnyk and Brayden Low each had a goal and an assist to lead the way for the Tips, with Matt Fonteyne also scoring.

In goal, Nik Amundrud started and stopped all 11 shots he faced to earn the win. Carter Hart played the second half of the game and saved 11 of 12.

The victory was Everett’s fourth straight to end the preseason, three of which came against Seattle. The Tips finished 5-2 in the preseason and topped the Western Conference standings. Everett outscored its opponents 24-12 in the preseason, and the plus-12 goal differential was also best in the conference.

Here’s Everett’s final preseason statistics for skaters and goaltenders. Low finished as the team’s leading scorer in the preseason with eight points (three goals, five assists) in six games. Amundrud was the top goaltender statistically, going 2-1 with a 0.51 goals against average and .981 save percentage.

Everett’s regular season begins next Saturday as the Tips journey back down to Kent to take on Seattle.

Now that the preseason is over, here’s some takeaways:

– Everett’s situation on offense coming into the season was probably around DEFCON 3, given the players the Tips lost from last year’s team. After the team scored just four goals total in its first three preseason games, that probably moved the needle to DEFCON 2. But Everett scored four or more goals in each of its final four preseason contests, so move things back to DEFCON 3 again.

– Everett’s overager situation is going to be a tough call. For the second straight year Brayden Low came into training camp as an underdog to make the team, and for the second straight year he’s played extremely well during the preseason. But it’s not like Kohl Bauml and Zane Jones have done anything to suggest they aren’t worthy of overage spots. I can’t imagine the Tips would make a decision before Ben Betker comes back from training camp with the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers, just in case Betker ends up earning a pro contract. But if Betker returns (and he’s fully expected to be sent back to Everett), one of the forwards has to be either dealt or cut. The overager deadline is Oct. 15, so the Tips will have time to figure this out even after the season has started.

– One factor that could come into play when making the overager decision is the type of chemistry built by line combinations during the preseason. The line of Bauml, Low and Tyler Sandhu was put together midway through the preseason schedule, and it seemed to establish itself as Everett’s most dangerous.

– Goaltending is another position that still remains to be settled. While No. 1 Austin Lotz is getting high praise for his performance for Vancouver on Friday night at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton, youngsters Nik Amundrud, Mario Petit and Carter Hart are battling it out for the back-up spot. Hart, who hadn’t played yet this preseason because of a groin injury, played a game-and-a-half this weekend, while Amundrud got the other half. Petit was scratched for both games. Interpret that how you will.

– By the numbers, Everett’s power play wasn’t very good as it finished 4-for-38, which is a 10.5-percent conversion rate. Numbers don’t tell the whole story, but in the games I watched Everett’s power play didn’t score particularly high on the eye test, either. That said, I also don’t know that I ever saw the Tips put a legitimate No. 1 power-play unit on the ice, either, as a lot of players received substantial power-play time.

– Don’t read too much into preseason performance. Does it mean something? Sure. Everett’s perfect preseason last year suggested a substantially improved team, and that’s what we got. The other Western Conference team that rocked the preseason last year was Prince George, which was even more impressive than Everett. That didn’t pan out quite so well.

So let the real games begin!

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