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Everett Silvertips mid-week assessment and tonight’s live blog

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, February 1, 2017

By Jesse Geleynse Herald Writer

The Everett Silvertips are in Kennewick tonight for their eighth matchup of the season with the Tri-City Americans. Everett is 4-2-1 against the Americans this year including a 4-2 win at the Toyota Center back on Jan. 21.

Everett (30-9-8-2, 70 points) is still on top of the U.S. Division, but its lead is dwindling. Tuesday’s 4-3 overtime loss at Portland snapped a three-game regulation losing streak, but the Tips haven’t won in five games. That’s allowed Seattle (30-15-3-1, 64 points) to creep within six points of Everett thanks in part to a 4-1 mark against the Tips in five games this month (Everett went 1-2-1-1).

The net gain in points for Seattle was four, but the Thunderbirds have won six straight and went 11-1 in the month of January. That lone defeat was a 1-0 Carter Hart shutout at Xfinity Arena on Jan. 20, so it has essentially taken a perfect effort to derail Seattle lately.

The T-Birds boast one of the top lines in the WHL in Ryan Gropp, Mathew Barzal and Keegan Kolesar. As colleague Tim Pigulski notes, that line is plus-54 on the season meaning teams simply don’t score when that line is on the ice.

The stellar play of goalie Rylan Toth has also been a huge factor and Wednesday Toth was named WHL Goaltender of the Month. Fortunately for Everett, it doesn’t see the Thunderbirds again until Feb. 26, so the Tips have plenty of time to get back on track.

But will they? Defensemen Noah Juulsen and Lucas Skrumeda continue to be out with lower-body injuries and from what I’ve heard Juulsen figures to be out for several more weeks. The absence of those two are tremendous losses and we’re seeing that play out in games.

Skrumeda is day-to-day, as is forward Riley Sutter (illness). Skrumeda is one of just two left-handed shots among the Tips defensemen, and Tips assistant Mitch Love has often mentioned his preference to having guys on their natural side back on the blue line. Thus Skrumeda’s return can’t come soon enough.

Everett again went scoreless on three power-play chances against Portland and are now 0-for-19 in its five-game skid – including an 0-for-10 showing in two losses to the Winterhawks. It’s fair to say Portland netminder Cole Kehler had something to do with that as he saved 77 of Everett’s 81 shots in those two contests.

The Tips continue to lead the WHL in penalty killing, but the Winterhawks did get one goal on the man advantage Tuesday, coming almost immediately after a lost faceoff in the Everett zone.

The Canadian Hockey League poll came out today and the Tips fell from No. 3 to No. 7:

One positive sign is the output of Connor Dewar since returning from the holiday break. On Tuesday Dewar assisted Everett’s first two goals as the Tips turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead in the span of 28 seconds. The second-year forward has six goals and six assists in 16 games since the break after tallying just four goals and eight assists in the season’s first 33 games.

The Tips have consistently started Dewar’s line (including Devon Skoleski and Bryce Kindopp) to begin periods, something head coach Kevin Constantine said was due to the immediate energy that line brings. That was on full display in the loss to Kamloops when Dewar scored off the second-period faceoff to tie the game (though the Blazers regained the lead for good on the very next shift).

You never want to overstate the importance of a single game, but the Tips badly need a victory to stop this slide and give them some confidence and momentum heading into another Friday matchup against Portland, a Saturday game against Vancouver, and then the tough six-game Eastern swing that follows.

Tonight’s live blog is below. Feel free to join in:

Live Blog Everett Silvertips at Tri-City Americans
 

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