EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips found plenty of offense with two home victories this weekend and have catapulted themselves into first place in the U.S. Division standings.
At 4-1-0-0 the Tips have eight points in the standings though they hold just a one-point advantage over Seattle (3-1-1-0), Tri-City (3-2-1-0) and Spokane (3-3-1-0). Of those three Everett has played only Spokane, but will get plenty of chances against the other two teams this season.
The Tips are tied for third in the Western Conference standings, but the discrepancy in scheduling means the three teams in front of Everett have each played eight games to Everett’s five. The Tips will ramp up their schedule in November when they begin playing three or four games a week for the remainder of the season — excluding the week of Christmas.
Thunderbirds back at full strength
The Seattle Thunderbirds were picked to win the division by several prognosticators, and Seattle has won three straight following a season-opening defeat at Vancouver. The stretch includes a shootout victory over Prince Albert Saturday followed by a road victory at Portland Sunday.
A big reason was the return of Mathew Barzal (New York Islanders) and Jamal Watson (Montreal) from NHL training camps. Barzal has a goal and two assists in two games while Watson has yet to register a point.
Alexander True was the star for Seattle on Sunday as he tallied the game-winning goal in the third period. True has three goals and an assist after missing most of last season with an injury.
“He’s playing well,” Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk told Andy Eide of mynorthwest.com. “Playing with confidence and he’s tenacious on the puck. He’s in good position for us down low on the power play and winning puck battles.”
Everett plays Seattle for the first time on Oct. 24 in the annual “Pink the Rink Night” at Xfinity Arena.
Chiefs finish road trip with three straight losses
The Spokane Chiefs opened the 2015-16 season with a 6-4 victory over Tri-City in Spokane.
The Chiefs haven’t played a home game since.
Spokane followed the opener with a lengthy six-game road swing that included two games at Victoria and games at Kelowna, Seattle, Portland and Everett. The Chiefs compiled a 2-3-1-0 mark on the road.
Though Everett topped Spokane 5-4 in overtime Saturday, Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine was quick to credit the effort the Chiefs gave while playing their fourth game in five days.
Kailer Yamamoto has nine assists already this season and is the Chiefs’ leading point producer with 10 for the year. Jason Fram took over the goal-scoring lead with a pair of goals Saturday. He has five on the year.
Portland loses Ericson
The Winterhawks were dealt a blow when they learned Swedish center Carl Ericson will be out three-to-six months with an undisclosed lower body injury sustained last week, according to Paul Danzer of the (Vancouver, Wash.) Columbian.
Portland is just 1-4-0-0 so far this season and was counting on Ericson to provide points after he had a goal and an assist in three games this season.
Point named WHL Player of the Week
Moose Jaw forward Brayden Point had a tremendous three-game stretch last week in which he tallied five goals and four assists. His reward is being named the WHL Player of the week. He has six goals and six assists on the season.
Coleman Vollrath of the Victoria Royals was the WHL’s nominee for the CHL Goaltender of the Week. Vollrath had three wins with a 1.00 goals against average and a .960 save percentage and a shutout last week. It was Vollrath’s second straight nomination.
Follow Silvertips writer Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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