EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips insist they don’t prepare differently for road games than for those played at Xfinity Arena.
Still, you can’t help but notice the recent swath of success the Tips have cut across other venues going back to the very end of November. Including their Nov. 29 victory at Spokane the Tips are 9-1-1-0 in their last 11 road contests.
“We don’t do one single thing different because we’re playing on the road — not one strategy changes,” head coach Kevin Constantine reiterated Thursday. “What we try to do is take pride in doing exactly the same things on the road.”
Perhaps it is simply a matter of the Tips (24-12-2-2, 52 points) getting hot at the same time they were scheduled for a number of games on the road. Yet the Tips are just 2-4-1-0 in seven home games following the Nov. 29 win at Spokane. If you include the two home games immediately preceding that win at Spokane, however, the record jumps to a more respectable 4-4-1-0.
The biggest difference the players notice is whether or not the Silvertips fans are there to ring their cowbells.
“It’s a little different because you have to travel, but once you’re all settled in it’s exactly the same thing as playing at home,” Silvertips forward Carson Stadnyk said. “We just don’t have the fans there and we don’t have the atmosphere.
“You have to feed off each other and feed off each other’s energy (on the road),” he added.
The Silvertips traveled approximately 1,200 miles during last weekend’s three-game road trip. Friday night’s jaunt is short by comparison — just up I-5 to Vancouver for a there-and-back day trip.
You might be wondering about Everett’s lone regulation loss during the 11-game span. It came to these same Vancouver Giants, who upended the Tips 4-2 at Pacific Coliseum on Dec. 27. The Tips haven’t lost during regulation in the seven games since.
The Giants (17-21-3-2, 39 points) lost 17 of 19 during a stretch that encompassed most of October and November. Vancouver appears to have righted itself in the interim and comes in with the Western Conference’s best record (7-2-1-0) in its last 10 games.
The Tips hold a 3-2 edge against the Giants this season, but Vancouver has won two straight.
“They’ve beaten us a couple times, and they’re playing well, and we have to be on top of our game,” Constantine said. “There will be little things we know about them and we’ll talk about that (Friday) as we prepare for the game. They have a very dynamic group of forwards that we have to be respectful about.”
Among those dynamic forwards are potent goal-scorers like Ty Ronning (25 goals, 13 assists), Chase Lang (16 goals, 26 assists), Alec Baer (14 goals, 15 assists) and Carter Popoff (11 goals, 17 assists).
However, presumptive first-round NHL draft pick Tyler Benson (eight goals, 18 assists) is likely out after being listed as week-to-week with a lower body injury on the WHL weekly report. Trevor Cox (seven goals, 25 assists) is also listed as day-to-day.
“You gotta be aware of where they are,” Stadnyk said. “They have pretty skilled guys who can put the puck in the net and make plays. You just have to have an extra sense of when they’re out there and not go too over the top against them — don’t make the pretty plays, just make the simple plays and you should be fine.”
Six different goaltenders have played for the Giants this season, but Vancouver seems to have found an answer in Ryan Kubic (12-11-2-0, 2.99 goals-against average, .909 save percentage). Kubic, though, is listed as day-to-day on the injury report.
The Tips return home for a 7 p.m. start on Saturday against Seattle, and face Saskatoon in a Monday matinee at 2 p.m. Then Everett embarks on its second and final swing to the Central Division with games at Kamloops, Edmonton and Red Deer.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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