T-birds beat Silvertips in final preseason game

EVERETT — Mark Ferner was blunt when discussing whether the Everett Silvertips are ready for the regular season.

Everett’s head coach didn’t mince any words following Everett’s 5-3 loss to the Seattle Thunderbirds in its preseason finale Saturday night at Comcast Arena.

“Are we ready right now? No, we’re not,” Ferner said. “We talk about getting better every time we step on the ice, and it takes a tremendous amount of sacrifice, not only on the ice but off the ice. I can sit in there and scream and yell all I want, but at the same time our guys have to want to go out and get better.”

One night after a terrible first period doomed the Tips in a 3-0 loss at Seattle, Ferner emphasized getting off to a good start. Instead, Everett found itself trailing 2-0 less than two minutes into the game, and the Tips never quite recovered.

“Some of our guys have that mentality that it’s just preseason,” Ferner said. “If we’re that good of a hockey team that we can just turn it on and off – it doesn’t work like that. We have to get to work starting Monday.”

Roberts Lipsbergs, Connor Sanvido, Branden Troock, Alex Delnov and Luke Lockhart scored for Seattle (3-2-1). Justin Myles earned the win in goal, stopping 14 of 16 shots, while Danny Mumaugh saved 11 of 12 in relief.

Kohl Bauml, Carson Stadnyk and Ty Mappin scored for Everett. Austin Lotz was in goal for the second straight night, making 19 saves. The Tips finished the preseason 3-4.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Ferner said. “Our compete level has to get better. We can’t take anything for granted. I thought our younger guys went out and competed pretty hard, given the stress of training camp and emotionally wondering if they’re going to be here or not. But to be quite honest with you, some of our older guys should be going through that process right now.”

Everett was in trouble from the opening puck drop. The Tips opened the game with two poor shifts, and the T-birds led 2-0 just 1 minute, 20 seconds into the game as Lipsbergs and Sanvido both tipped shots past Lotz. Everett outshot Seattle 14-7 in the first period, but exited trailing 3-1, only getting on the board when Bauml put in a rebound with 18.4 seconds remaining.

The Tips found themselves down 4-1 just 48 seconds into the second period. They rallied to within a point in the same period and had a pair of golden opportunities to knot it up in the third. But the Tips couldn’t get a stick on a loose puck right in front of the goal with Mumaugh down, and Trent Lofthouse fanned at an open net.

Then Seattle scored the back-breaking goal on a power play with 7:16 remaining. The Tips were long-shifted while killing the penalty, allowing Justin Hickman the opportunity to find Lockhart on the back door.

Thunderbirds 5, Silvertips 3

Seattle311–5

Everett120–3

First Period–1, Seattle, Lipsbergs 3 (Deagle), 0:48. 2, Seattle, Sanvido 1 (Theodore), 1:20. 3, Seattle, Troock 2 (Lockhart, Theodore), 17:34. 4, Everett, Bauml 1 (Walters, Stadnyk), 19:41. Penalties—Deagle, Seattle (slashing), 2:45; Chynoweth, Everett (checking from behind), 6:49; Deagle, Seattle (roughing), 12:42; Winquist, Everett (roughing), 12:42; Green, Seattle (fighting-game misconduct), 14:30; McPhee, Everett (fighting-game misconduct), 14:30.

Second Period–5, Seattle, Delnov 2 (Troock), 0:48. 6, Everett, Stadnyk 2 (Lofthouse), 9:57. 7, Everett, Mappin 1 (Stadnyk, Petryk), 12:18. Penalties—Troock, Seattle (tripping), 4:54; Sanvido, Seattle (roughing), 18:21; Fowlie, Everett (roughing-unsportsmanlike conduct), 18:21.

Third Period–8, Seattle, Lockhart 1 (Hickman, Rouse), 12:44 (pp). Penalties—Wold, Seattle (tripping), 2:09; Sheen, Seattle (holding), 7:27; Mueller, Everett (interference), 7:50; Chynoweth, Everett (holding), 10:46; Alos, Seattle (roughing), 14:14; Hickman, Seattle (10-minute misconduct), 14:14; Oslanski, Everett (roughing), 14:14; Mueller, Everett (10-minute misconduct), 14:14; Betker, Everett (slashing), 15:10.

Shots on goal–Seattle 7-8-9—24. Everett 14-8-6—28. Power-play opportunities—Seattle 1 of 5. Everett 0 of 4.

Goalies–Seattle, Myles 2-1 (16 shots, 14 saves), Mumaugh (12 shots, 1 saves). Everett, Lotz 1-2 (24 shots, 19 saves).

Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at NickHPatterson.