Everett Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine is not quite ready to use the term “good” when describing his team, despite an 11-6-0-1 record and a 1-1 showing so far on its four-game Central Division road trip.
Everett shut out the Kootenay Ice 2-0 in the road trip opener Tuesday before falling 4-3 at Lethbridge Wednesday night.
“We played a good game in Kootenay, albeit Kootenay is really banged up injury-wise right now,” Constantine said in a phone interview Wednesday. “If we want to be considered a good team we need to play well against a team that has all (its) key guys there.”
Indeed, the Ice were missing six important players, including leading scorers Luke Philp and Zak Zborosky. The Ice dressed just 16 skaters as opposed to the usual 18.
Everett is a little banged up as well, something Constantine noted going back to last weekend’s homestand against Spokane and Swift Current. Captain Dawson Leedahl was scratched from Wednesday’s game with a lower-body injury, and Constantine described Leedahl’s status as “day-to-day.”
Second-place Lethbridge (13-8-0-0, 26 points) is already more than halfway toward its 48-point total during last season’s 20-44-5-3 mark.
“They’re having a rebound type of season after being down for a couple of years,” Constantine said. “They’ve got some younger players and a younger coaching staff, and they’re a much better team this year.”
Everett took a 1-0 lead in the first before Lethbridge erupted for three second-period goals and took a 4-2 lead early in the final period. Tips star defenseman Noah Juulsen cut the deficit to one with four minutes to play, but that was the closest Everett got.
“Every game has its own flavor and in this particular case I thought some of the guys played really hard (Wednesday),” Constantine said. “I thought some other guys had some off nights. At the end of the day it was 4-3 and another contest we were in the whole way and had a chance at the end. We out-shot a team on the road. So there were some OK things, but we had a lot of turnovers and some guys with off nights.”
The Tips finished with the 34-29 shot advantage, but it was a far cry from Tuesday’s 41-16 showing at Kootenay. Backup goaltender Mario Petit stopped 25 shots in his first WHL start as the Tips gave star netminder Carter Hart a rare night off.
It was Petit’s first appearance since replacing Hart in Everett’s 5-1 loss at Portland Oct. 16. Constantine said the coaching staff “doesn’t pass judgment” on players that haven’t played in a while, though it remains to be seen when the Manitoba native gets his next chance in net.
“I learned with the Kansas City Blades 23 years ago never to make goalie decisions more than one game at a time,” said Constantine, who coached the IHL franchise for two seasons before he was hired by the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.
Hart will, in all likelihood, be back at goaltender tonight as the Tips continue their road trip at Medicine Hat.
The Tigers (6-10-2-1, 15 points) are fifth in the six-team Central Division. Medicine Hat has lost two straight and is 2-6-1-1 in its last 10 games. The Tigers picked up former Tips goaltender Austin Lotz in the overage draft earlier this season. However, Lotz was scheduled to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery and won’t get the chance to play against his former team.
Steve Owre (nine goals, 14 assists), Chad Butcher (seven goals, 15 assists), Cole Sanford (seven goals, nine assists), Max Gerlach (eight goals, seven assists) and Clayton Kirichenko (four goals, 12 assists with Vancouver and Medicine Hat) are among the Tigers’ top offensive threats.
The Tigers have already used four goaltenders this season and recently acquired Mack Shields from Prince George. Shields defeated Everett 5-1 in the second game of the regular season on Sept. 27 in Prince George. For the season Shields is 4-5 with a 3.51 goals against average and an .872 save percentage.
Nick Schneider (3-5, 4.07 GAA, .857) is Medicine Hat’s other goaltender.
Friday’s game begins at 6:30 p.m.
Follow Silvertips writer Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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