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Everett Silvertips return to battle tonight at Seattle T-birds

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, January 17, 2017

By Jesse Geleynse Herald Writer

Monday afternoon’s 5-4 Everett Silvertips victory over the Kelowna Rockets was a war and it doesn’t get any easier tonight as the Tips visit the Seattle Thunderbirds at ShoWare Center. Everett’s win Monday snapped a three-game winning streak for the always-dangerous Rockets.

The T-Birds come in hot having won three straight after knocking off Spokane 6-4 Sunday in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score would indicate. Everett has lost the last two contests to Seattle, but managed a point each time by forcing overtime. Last Saturday the teams seemed poised for a shootout, but a poor line change with 16 seconds to go in overtime gave Seattle’s Keegan Kolesar a breakaway and he beat Carter Hart for the game-winner.

Watch Everett forward Riley Sutter tonight. Not only is he coming off a three-point game in the win over Kelowna, but he has four goals and three assists in four games against the Thunderbirds this season.

It will be interesting to see which line starts tonight for Everett. The last two games the Tips have started their second line of Connor Dewar-Devon Skoleski-Bryce Kindopp.

“We’re the home team so sometimes we get match-ups and you’re doing that for strategy,” head coach Kevin Constantine said after Monday’s game. “A lot of times we’re asking that first group of five to carry a huge burden of responsibility in terms of how our team starts. We place incredible emphasis on the very first puck drop and whatever results from the first 15 seconds of the game. That’s very important to us.”

Skoleski left the game in the first period Monday and needed stitches. He’s officially day-to-day.

In other news:

– It was a special night for former Silvertip Jujhar Khaira as the now-Edmonton Oiler scored his first NHL goal:

– There is an interesting story over at Hockey Now that looks at how minor hockey associations – particularly Calgary – are looking to become more accepting and inclusive of LGBTQ players.

– The Tri-City Americans are hot. They’ve won six straight and are 8-2 in their last 10. The Americans became the first U.S. Division team to sweep the Eastern Division on the road since the division expanded to six teams for the 2007-08 season. Tri-City remains five points behind Everett in the U.S. Division standings and the Tips have a whopping seven games in hand.

For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter.

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