The Silvertips improved to 3-0 in the preseason with a 4-3 victory over the Portland Winterhawks in the final game at the 12th Annual Holiday Inn Classic that wrapped up Sunday night at Xfinity Arena.
We’ve got our game story here. The box score is here.
Russian import Yan Khomenko continued to impress as he scored his third goal in as many games and also added two assists in Everett’s game Sunday night. His first assist came on Everett’s first goal and consisted of an impressive pass to Kevin Davis near the net, who then played the puck to Remi Laurencelle at the right post who converted for the 1-0 lead.
Neither Khomenko, nor countryman and fellow import selection Alexander Scherbakov speak English, so interviews will be nonexistent for the time being. The team does have an interpreter working with the pair, so we’ll see how that goes before we talk to Yan and Alexander.
Following the game Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine noted the challenges of having two non-English speakers with the organization.
“There’s just such a barrier in terms of language, so the learning process is just way slower,” Constantine said. “So all you can do is look at the player as far as how he plays the game. In that standpoint Yan has done a good job. He’s got confidence with the puck, he’s scored some goals. He’s been on our power play (line). He seems to be energetic in terms of participating.”
So there you have it. Khomenko’s on-ice performance has stood out coaches (and teammates) alike.
Scherbakov, meanwhile, was scratched from both of the first two games this weekend. He played Sunday, but suffered a shoulder injury before leaving the game just after Portland took the lead midway through the second period.
“It’s a significant injury that will keep him out a little bit,” Constantine said.
Another bright spot for the Tips was 19-year-old defenseman Tristen Pfeifer, who had assists on Everett’s final three goals of the night. Pfeifer had two goals and seven assists in 49 games for the Tips last season.
“We had a pretty solid veteran lineup there in the ‘D’ zone,” Pfeifer said. “The guys are just playing like they were last year, so it was definitely a good night for us.”
The Tips also converted two power plays Sunday and it led to the game-tying and game-winning goals. Everett finished 2-of-7 on power play chances while holding the Winterhawks to an 0-for-3 showing.
“We’ve been a pretty good power play team the last couple of years and you gotta give some of the credit to the guys we had,” Constantine said. “We’ll have to see how we do this year. I don’t know who that power play guy is, but hopefully we find him.”
Scratches Sunday for Everett included Riley Sutter, Patrick Bajkov, Dawson Leedahl, Matt Fonteyne, Sean Mallonee, Gunnar Wegleitner, Noah Juulsen, Cam Dykstra, Montana Onyebuchi, Mackenzie Dwyer, Jantzen Leslie, Tyler Fraser and Austin Lotz.
The lines, as provided by the Silvertips media staff were as follows:
LINES
Millar – Laurencelle – Khomenko
Gerth – Dewar – Stadnyk
King – Skoleski – Kindopp
Malenica / Chorney
SILVERTIPS PAIRINGS
MacDonald – Davis
Skrumeda – Pfeifer
Christiansen – Wharrie
Scherbakov
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