EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips concede that the preseason Holiday Inn Classic is about player evaluation and getting comfortable on the ice against live opponents.
But it certainly doesn’t hurt morale to go undefeated either.
The Silvertips wrapped up an unbeaten weekend with a 4-3 victory over the Portland Winterhawks Sunday night at Xfinity Arena before several hundred fans as Everett finished the three-day event with a 3-0 record.
“I’m definitely proud of our effort this weekend, but we’ve got a big week in Tri-Cities this weekend as we work toward our season opener,” said Tips defenseman Tristen Pfeifer, who had three assists in the victory. “I’m definitely happy, but not satisfied.”
Everett will lose four players to NHL camps this week before heading to Tri-Cities for two games scheduled for Thursday and Friday. The player evaluation process will continue at camp this week as Everett must eventually have to cull its roster from 32 to 23 before the regular-season opener.
“You’re trying to evaluate players and you’re trying to implement a way of playing — put in a system, put in some details,” Tips head coach Kevin Constantine said. “To a degree after a week and three games you can make progress toward those goals and I think that’s happening.”
The Silvertips took advantage of two power play opportunities to score their final two goals after Portland took a 3-2 lead at 10:20 in the second period.
Carson Stadnyk’s second goal of the night tied the game 3-3 at 15:55 in the second, and Yan Khomenko scored what proved the game-winner at 3:57 in the third. Pfeifer assisted on both goals.
“Scoring in that advantage is huge,” Stadnyk said. “Early in this game our power play was struggling a lot. To finally get a couple of goals on that is good for (our) confidence.”
Khomenko has impressed coaches and teammates with his on-ice abilities thus far. The Russian import scored a goal in all three of Everett’s weekend games and added two assists in Sunday’s victory.
“He’s definitely shown that he can score on the power play,” Pfeifer said. “We’ll see how that goes during the regular season. It’s only preseason right now, but he’s definitely shown some skill, and we like to give him the puck for sure.”
Everett took a 1-0 lead at 9:25 in the opening period when Khomenko found Kevin Davis to the left of the goal, and Davis played the puck to Remi Laurencelle for the tap-in goal.
Stadnyk added the second goal at 13:17 with a one-touch finish with assists from Spencer Gerth and Pfeifer.
Alex Overhardt cut Everett’s lead in half at 18:22, and Carl Ericson later scored the equalizer on a breakaway with an assist from Keoni Texeira at 2:29 in the second.
Overhardt’s second goal of the game came from the base of the left circle and gave Portland its first lead.
Stadnyk scored his second goal after Portland was penalized for having too many men on the ice.
“Basically the coaches can put anyone with anyone (on the ice),” Stadnyk said. “Everyone is trying to learn the new systems and stuff, and everyone is communicating with each other and knows what their role is out there on the ice.”
Seattle Thunderbirds 5, Spokane Chiefs 2
The Thunderbirds built a 4-0 lead and were never threatened as they defeated the Chiefs in a Sunday afternoon matchup.
Jamal Watson scored twice for Seattle and Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists for the Thunderbirds. Jerret Smith and Ryan Gropp both scored for Seattle and Nolan Volcan had two assists.
Kailer Yamamoto and Hayden Ostir scored for Spokane.
Victoria Royals 5, Tri-City Americans 1
Five different Victoria players scored as the Royals pounded 53 shots against the Americans to earn the decisive victory Sunday afternoon.
Scott Walford, Ethan Price, Keith Anderson, Alex Forsberg and Regan Nagy all found the net for the Royals. Jared Dmytriw had two assists.
Parker AuCoin recorded the Americans’ lone goal.
Follow Silvertips writer Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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