EVERETT — Tyler Sandhu had a hat trick as Everett held off Tri-City 7-5 after taking a 6-1 lead in the WHL regular-season finale Sunday.

The Silvertips (25-40-3-4) will be the eighth seed in the Western Conference and face No. 1 seed Portland (57-12-1-2) in the best-of-seven first-round playoff series starting Friday in Portland. Everett will host Games 3 and 4 on March 27 and March 29.

Sandhu scored twice in the first period as Everett took a 5-1 lead and boosted it to 6-1 in the second. The Americans closed the gap by scoring the final three goals.

Everett's Joshua Winquist had three assists., Manraj Hayer had two assists and Landon Oslanski had a goal and an assist.