EVERETT — Conventional wisdom says that a split on the road in hockey is good.
Just don’t say that to Everett Silvertips Kevin Constantine.
“I’ve always hated that,” said Constantine, whose team split in its season-opening road trip at Prince George last weekend. “I’ve always thought, ‘Why is that good?’ If you win the first one, win the second one.”
Constantine also doesn’t care for the platitude “We had a good third period.”
“All that means is we stunk for two,” he said Wednesday after practice.
So what, if anything, are the takeaways from last weekend’s two-game road trip in which the Silvertips shut out Prince George 2-0 Friday and lost 5-1 Sunday?
Perhaps not much.
“It’s still too early for me to really worry about judgment of how things went,” Constantine said. “I think (Prince George is) going to be a good team. They had five players drafted last year and they finished the season strong. They have a strong returning group.”
The Silvertips staff likes to defer judgment for the first 10 games or so of the season, according to general manager Garry Davidson. Constantine’s squad was also without captain Dawson Leedahl and big-bodied defenseman Tristen Pfeifer during Sunday’s game as both were out with upper body injuries sustained in the season-opener.
“I think we were a little better of a team Friday than we were on Sunday (and) I think that taking those two guys out was a part of that,” Constantine said. “There were other things too, but I think both those guys give us a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm and they get around the rink well, so yeah that didn’t help our cause.”
Penalty kill breaks even
The Silvertips killed both of Prince George’s power play opportunities Friday, but the Cougars converted their first two on Sunday.
Constantine said that wasn’t cause for concern because the coaching staff views penalty kills based on the number of scoring chances the team allows per power play — ideally just one — rather than the number of goals allowed. Constantine added that the number of chances allowed both in the preseason and the two regular season games have been “normal.”
“The most important guy on the penalty kill is the goalie (and) if the goalie is having a pretty good game and a pretty good night your penalty kill will look good,” Constantine said. “It may be no better or worse than a different night, but if the goalie is making saves you’re fine. If the goalie doesn’t make a couple saves you maybe look like the penalty kill isn’t that great. So it’s a fair amount of pressure on goalies, but it’s just the fact.”
Prince George’s 18-year-old forward Jesse Gabrielle was responsible for both of the Cougars’ power play goals. A fourth-round pick by the Boston Bruins in this year’s NHL draft, Gabrielle had a power play goal in both the second and third periods as Prince George pulled away.
“You gotta give PG credit too,” Constantine said. “Sometimes the other team is humming or makes some really good plays and PG made a couple of really nice plays at our net front and scored.”
No go on power play
On the other side, Everett has yet to convert any of its power play chances this season. The Silvertips were 0-for-3 on Sunday after an 0-for-1 showing on Friday.
Part of the reason could be that the Tips are still missing key personnel. Ivan Nikolishin scored six of his 16 goals on the power play last season, while Noah Juulsen was a key in setting up his teammates as he tallied 43 assists and three power play goals last season.
Nikolishin was traded to Red Deer in the offseason while Juulsen remains away at Montreal Canadiens training camp.
“When you take two guys like Juulsen’s shot and Ivan’s play-making and take them off the power play it’s going to take a while,” Constantine said. “I think our power play is going to be a work in progress as the season goes on.”
Russian import Yan Khomenko showed flashes in the preseason with two power play goals among his three scores, but he has yet to play in the regular season. Khomenko did not travel to Prince George last weekend after hitting his head on a crossbar earlier last week. He did skate Wednesday along with Leedahl as both hope to be ready for this weekend’s game at Portland.
Juulsen in Montreal
Speaking of Juulsen, the Canadiens’ 2015 first-rounder was finally cleared to play Thursday in Montreal’s preseason game against Ottawa. Juulsen has not yet skated with Everett after sustaining a concussion on the eve of training camp. He is expected back in Everett this season though no timetable has been set for the 18-year-old.
Juulsen had two shots on goal in 13:35 of ice time in Montreal’s 5-2 loss Thursday.
Follow Silvertips writer Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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