EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips completed their final stretch of three games in three nights when Noah Juulsen scored on a wrist shot from the left circle Sunday for a 3-2 overtime win at Portland.
That’s the good news. The bad? Everett’s chance at a second straight U.S. Disivion title ended when the Seattle Thunderbirds beat the Spokane Chiefs 4-1 on Tuesday night to move six points in front of the Silvertips with three game remaining.
The Tips played six three-in-threes this year — all coming in the season’s second half. Everett finished 5-1 in those Sunday games, but the half-dozen instances is more than head coach Kevin Constantine remembers ever playing before.
“Good for our guys to hang in there and compete, but we played them more than we need to,” he quipped Tuesday after practice.
Usually Everett and its opponent were each playing their third game in three nights, so the Tips approached the challenge with the recognition that both teams were facing the same struggle.
“It’s a mental game and there’s a lot of real tired guys in a three-in-three,” Juulsen said. “You just have to push and get through it.”
Juulsen pushed through some personal frustration on Sunday. A third-period turnover resulting from him falling to the ice in the Everett defensive zone led to Portland’s first goal.
“I think just blew an edge coming out from behind the net and that’s on me, and I think you gotta go with ‘What’s Important Next,’” Juulsen said, quoting one of the Tips’ mantras. “You gotta move on from that and I think I did quite well in that.”
In the extra session the Montreal Canadiens prospect took a drop pass from Matt Fonteyne and flicked it past Portland goalie Adin Hill for his second overtime game-winner of the season. Incidentally Fonteyne also assisted Juulsen’s other game-winner in a 4-3 win at Kamloops on Jan. 2.
“He’s a warrior and a difference-maker, and I think he likes being in moment,” Constantine said of Juulsen. “There are players that are safe players and they don’t want to be in moments like that. But great players want to be out there in situations when the game is on the line and he’s that kind of kid. My guess is that he wanted to be out there and made the most of an opportunity.”
In another bit of good news for Silvertips fans, forward Carson Stadnyk was a full participant in practice after leaving Sunday’s game in the second period with a lower body injury. Stadnyk said he simply took a puck to the leg during an Everett power play and is “good to go” for Wednesday’s game.
Though Stadnyk watched the remainder of Sunday’s game from the stands, the importance of the win wasn’t lost on the overager.
“We needed that win,” Stadnyk said. “To get back after those two losses and finish that weekend with a win was good.”
The Silvertips have lost three straight games in regulation only twice this season. In two other instances they’ve lost three in a row while picking up at least a point during those streaks by virtue of forcing overtime.
Constantine has noted several times that avoiding a long losing skid has been just as important to Everett’s clinching home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs as any winning streak the Tips have put together.
Wednesday the Tips play host to Spokane for the final time this season at 7 p.m. at Xfinity Arena. The Chiefs entered Tuesday’s game at Seattle two points back of the Winterhawks for the No. 7 seed in Western Conference playoffs. However, Portland holds the tiebreaker with more victories.
Everett has won seven of the nine meetings between the teams this season including a 4-1 win in their last match-up on Feb. 21 at Xfinity Arena
Kailer Yamamoto recently returned to the Chiefs lineup and is their leading scorer with 19 goals and 47 assists. Dominic Zwerger (27 goals, 27 assists) and Keanu Yamamoto (21 goals, 29 assists) are also key performers.
The Silvertips conclude the regular season with a home-and-home series against the Victoria Royals Friday and Saturday.
For the latest Silvertips news follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.
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