Gameday Preview: Everett Silvertips @ Vancouver Giants

Feature game of the night: Everett Silvertips (29-11-3-1) @ Vancouver Giants (19-19-2-2) 7:30 PM PST

It is the only game of the night as the WHL features a rare Thursday night game.

The Giants and Silvertips have played an identical last ten game. Both have gone 4-4-1-1. Everett is comfortably in second in the US Division, though, and the Giants are fighting for their playoff lives.

The teams have played each other twice before, with both games decided by a single goal. Everett took the win on both occasions. Their last meeting came nearly a month before the trade deadline on December 14th.

Everett boasts the best goalie in the WHL, Dustin Wolf. His goals-against average is 2.01 and he has a .935 save percentage. He has the third-most wins in the Western Hockey League with 20. Wolf has been the starter since the departure of Carter Hart and won’t be vacating the crease anytime soon.

Vancouver, on the other hand, has two capable goalies and has been using them in tandem all year. David Tendeck is having a better statistical season than Trent Mine,r and you can expect him to get the start between the pipes for this important game. Despite having a 2.19 goals-against average and .921 save percentage, Tendeck has a record below .500 (11-12-1-1). He is just not getting the offensive support he needs to take the Giants to the BC Division title.

Speaking of offense, this is where the Giants really struggle. The team has just one scorer in the top-40 in WHL points. Tristen Nielsen has 20 goals and 20 assists in 42 games to lead the way. Behind him are two players that were picked up by the Giants this season. Tyler Preziuso has scored seven times and added three assists in his 14 games with the club since coming over in a deal with Medicine Hat. The other new addition is Eric Florchuk, brought in from the Saskatoon Blades near the deadline. He has four goals and three assists in five games as a Giant. The Giants score just 2.55 goals per game, the second-least in the WHL’s Western Conference.

Everett scores nearly a goal-per-game more than Vancouver at 3.41 per game. They are led by Bryce Kindopp and Cole Fonstad. Both players have 55 points on the season. Kindopp has 30 goals this year, eight of which have come with the man advantage. Fonstad is the setup man on the power play for the Silvertips and has registered 17 of his 45 assists on the power play. Just-turned-19 years old Gage Goncalves rounds out the top three scorers for the ‘Tips with 24 goals and 21 assists in 41 games.

The Silvertips also get a lot of their scoring punch from the rearguards as both Wyatte Wylie and Jake Christiansen regularly contribute. Wylie, the Philadelphia Flyers draft pick, has 11 goals and 30 assists in 44 games, while 20-year-old Christiansen was sent back from AHL Stockton and has been on fire since, collecting 11 goals and 15 assists in just 19 games.

The Giants have struggled this year to find consistency on the back end with Bowen Byram missing time at NHL camp and the World Juniors. He is off his pace from last season but has respectable numbers, scoring three times and adding 17 assists in 30 games. Behind him is the captain Alex Kannok-Leipert with two goals and 13 assists in 42 games.

Everett is the league leader on the power play, clipping along at 27.5% (47-of-171). The Giants have struggled mightily when on the man advantage, scoring just 21 times on 142 chances (14.8%). The teams are much closer when down a man. Everett’s penalty kill rate is 80.9%, while the Giants are at 80.7%.