Silvertips’ coach pleased with team’s effort despite losses

EVERETT — Everett Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine can’t question his team’s passion.

That, more than anything, was the main takeaway from last week’s four-game Central Division road trip during which the Silvertips played some of the best hockey at the end.

The one caveat? The Tips garnered only one point in their final three games of the trip, coming in a shootout loss at Calgary Saturday before the team headed home.

“I thought based on a team that had to play four games in five nights that we competed extremely hard and kind of emptied the tank in terms of giving everything that was left,” Constantine said.

That was most evident in the 3-1 lead the Tips held during the road trip finale at Calgary. Though it eventually lost 4-3 in a shootout, Everett (11-7-0-2, 24 points) had leads in all four games on the road trip.

“I didn’t think we played bad at all to be honest,” Tips goaltender Carter Hart said. “We played four games in five nights so obviously we were a little tired. But it was good to see that we came out every night and competed, and are paying the price to win. Even though we didn’t get the result we wanted, I thought we played a solid few games.”

Constantine has generally been pleased with the consistency of the effort put forth by his team. Last Wednesday’s 4-3 loss at Lethbridge was the lone exception on the road trip. The games in which Everett’s effort isn’t where it needs to be generally depends on the team’s health, Constantine said.

Everett has been without captain Dawson Leedahl for several games this season including the Lethbridge game. Key defensemen Cole MacDonald (injury) and Noah Juulsen (NHL training camp) also missed several games early in the season.

“When we dress our healthy lineup we’ve been pretty steady, but we would be a team that’s vulnerable to injuries at key positions,” Constantine said. “I’m not sure that we’re deep enough to be able to conquer that on a regular basis.”

So far, so good. All 24 players fully participated in Tuesday’s practice, including Dario Winkler (illness) and Brian King (lower body injury), who were each listed as day-to-day on the WHL’s weekly injury report released Tuesday. Winkler and King both were scratched for the game at Calgary.

Wednesday the Tips take on the Tri-City Americans beginning at 7 p.m. at Xfinity Arena. The homestand concludes with a 7:35 p.m. Black Friday game against Moose Jaw, and Everett wraps up the weekend Sunday at 5 p.m. at Spokane.

Entering Tuesday’s game against Moose Jaw, the Americans (9-13-1-0, 19 points) are last in the five-team U.S. Division, but knocked off then-Western-Conference-leading Victoria 6-5 in overtime Saturday. Tri-City has been beset by numerous injuries this season, but recently got star defenseman Brandon Carlo back.

Parker Bowles (11 goals, 17 assists), Jordan Topping (nine goals, 10 assists) and Beau McCue (eight goals, nine assists) are the top scorers for the Americans. Defensemen Parker Wotherspoon (three goals, 13 assists) and Juuso Valimaki (three goals, 12 assists), and forwards Vladislav Lukin (seven goals, seven assists) and Michael Rasmussen (six goals, eight assists) are also key contributors.

Evan Sarthou (8-12-1-0, 3.66 goals-against average, .878 save percentage) has played 22 games in net for the Americans.

The Silvertips have weathered tough stretches before, including a stint that included four loses in five games during the latter part of October. The trick now is to not let the three-game skid extend longer.

“One of the secrets to having a decent record at the end of the day — certainly like last year, winning the (division) title — you just can’t have a prolonged down period that just goes on and on and on,” Constantine said. “Your ability to have a little bit of something negative happen and get right back into the next game and get focused on the next event — those are important events during the course of a season.”

For the latest Silvertips news follow Herald writer Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.