Silvertips’ win means Constantine will be playing the piano

Published 1:30 am Saturday, November 5, 2016

EVERETT — Everett Silvertips head coach Kevin Constantine never thought he would have to play the piano in public some four decades after he took lessons growing up in Minnesota.

However, thanks to Everett’s 5-2 win over the Portland Winterhawks on Saturday, the veteran coach said he will do so at some point before the 2016-17 season is up.

“I have to now ­— I just don’t know when,” said Constantine, who told “The Fish” Jeff Aaron at KRKO-AM 1380 he would play in public if the Tips won five straight. “So hopefully I’m given a little bit of an opportunity to learn a song so I don’t embarrass myself too much.”

This marks Everett’s first five-game winning streak since January of 2015. The U.S. Division-leading Tips (13-2-2-0, 28 points) knocked off the Winterhawks (8-10-0-0, 16 points) for the second time in two meetings this season before 6,743 fans at Xfinity Arena.

“The Fish always asks me an oddball question, and one of those oddball questions got into music and I made the mistake of saying I was forced by my mother to play the piano for about 10 years growing up,” Constantine said. “So I’m not all that good at it, but I’m good enough to embarrass myself so I guess I’m going to have to do that now.”

Everett wouldn’t have been in position to win without 41 saves from backup goaltender Mario Petit. The 19-year-old, who beat the Winterhawks three times in last year’s first-round playoff series, improved to 3-0-1 on the season.

But it was a preseason performance in which he allowed four goals to the Winterhawks that motivated Petit Saturday.

“I think I kind of embarrassed myself and let in three weak goals in a row,” Petit said. “I really wanted to bounce back from that this time.”

The game was much closer than the final score indicated. Everett played most of the final period clinging to a 3-2 lead before Dominic Zwerger and Riley Sutter each scored empty-netters in the final two minutes.

Nursing a 3-1 lead through two periods, the Tips withstood a 5-on-3 power play early in the third. But Keegan Iverson cut Everett’s lead to a single goal at 6:51 when he skated in from the left boards, dangled and flicked a wrister past Petit.

The Tips led 2-1 through the opening period and extended the lead to 3-1 at 9:41 in the second when Eetu Tuulola’s wrister from the slot rebounded to Patrick Bajkov at the left post. Bajkov put the back-hander past Portland goaltender Michael Bullion’s right pad for a two-goal lead.

“They blocked lots of shots, scored some key goals, and there is nothing more I can ask from them,” Petit said.

Everett erased an early 1-0 deficit with back-to-back power play goals. Iverson and Brendan De Jong took penalties less than a minute apart to give the Tips a 5-on-3 advantage, and Kevin Davis tied the game with a snipe from the point at 15:58 thanks to a screen from Matt Fonteyne. Noah Juulsen gave Everett its first lead 57 seconds later with a slapshot from the point once again to make it 2-1.

Portland initially took the lead on its own first-period power play when Skyler McKenzie found the net with a shot from the right circle over Petit’s left shoulder for a 1-0 lead at 10:27 in the opening period.

The Winterhawks finished with a 43-29 shot advantage.

For the statistics from Saturday night’s game, see the Scoreboard on Page C4.

Silvertips 5, Winterhawks 2

Portland 1 0 1 — 2

Everett 2 1 2 — 5

1st Period-1, Portland, McKenzie 11 (Jones, Blichfeld), 10:27 (PP). 2, Everett, Davis 2 (Sutter), 15:58 (PP). 3, Everett, Juulsen 6 (Tuulola, King), 16:55 (PP). Penalties-Sharp Por (interference), 2:54; Sutter Evt (charging), 8:08; Christiansen Evt (tripping), 10:13; Iverson Por (interference), 14:05; De Jong Por (holding), 15:13; Ginnell Por (cross checking), 19:23.

2nd Period-4, Everett, Bajkov 7 (Zwerger, Fonteyne), 9:41. Penalties-Iverson Por (roughing), 1:49; Dewar Evt (interference), 19:58.

3rd Period-5, Portland, Iverson 8 (Overhardt, Jokiharju), 6:51. 6, Everett, Zwerger 7 (Bajkov), 19:02 (EN). 7, Everett, Sutter 8 19:35 (EN). Penalties-Davis Evt (boarding), 1:37; Jokiharju Por (cross checking), 8:43; Tuulola Evt (embellishment), 8:43; Czaikowski Por (tripping), 9:45; Glass Por (tripping), 12:17.

Shots on Goal-Portland 11-16-16-43. Everett 8-9-12-29.

Power Play Opportunities-Portland 1 / 4; Everett 2 / 7.

Goalies-Portland, Bullion 2-5-0-0 (27 shots-24 saves). Everett, Petit 3-0-1-0 (43 shots-41 saves).

A-6,743