Portland beat Spokane 7-4 tonight in its game in hand, meaning it’s all even heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Everett and Portland are now tied atop the U.S. Division standings as both have 90 points with three games remaining. The Winterhawks have one more win, meaning they currently hold the tiebreaker.
It’s going to be tough for the Tips to pull this one out. Everett has to gain more points than Portland this weekend to claim the division title. But two of Portland’s final three games are against Tri-City, a banged-up team that the Winterhawks are 8-0 against this season. Portland has a tricky away game at Seattle in between, but the Winterhawks are probably going to get their share of points out of the final three games.
Meanwhile, Everett had a challenging weekend. First there’s the home-and-home against a quality Victoria team (that admittedly has little left to play for), along with the complicated travel that accompanies that. Then the Tips must finish the season at Spokane, another lengthy bus ride against another tough team.
If it comes down to the final day, Everett doesn’t have a great history in those circumstances. In 2010 the Tips finished up the season at Spokane needing just a point to win the division title and earn the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Everett came up a goal short, was upset by Kelowna in the first round of the playoffs, then went four years before winning in Spokane again. Obviously, the Tips hope that scenario doesn’t play out again.
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