Need a lift? Cue Braeden Cootes.
The Prince Albert Raiders’ prized trade deadline acquisition was all over the scoresheet on Friday, potting two goals and an assist as Prince Albert opened the WHL playoffs with a 4-1 win over the Red Deer Rebels.
“He’s really smart, (and) easy to play with,” said defenceman Brock Cripps, who assisted on Cootes’ first period power play goal, and scored late in the third off a beautiful drop pass from the Vancouver Canucks draft pick. “He gets open for you, and when you’re open, he finds a way to get the puck to you. It’s nice to play with him. Great player.”
Cootes opened the scoring with 5:17 to go in the first period when he fired a wrist shot over Rebel goaltender Matthew Kondro’s shoulder. He repeated the feat midway through the third with an almost identical shot into the top corner before assisting on Cripps’ tally.
Those two third period goals helped put away a Red Deer Rebels team that won the last two meetings with the Raiders on the strength of two third period comebacks.
“He’s a game-breaker,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said when asked about Cootes’ play. “You watch how he hunts, whether it’s on the forecheck (or) whether it’s on the track. He possesses pucks underneath, has just an absolute tremendous release, and got himself inside the dots for a couple of really good looks.”
“(I’m) just playing to win, honestly,” Cootes said. “I was doing whatever it took to win. Just trying to keep the puck in their end, not giving them much, and just separate ourselves there at the end so they couldn’t pull the goalie and get a chance to tie it.”
Although the Raiders sent fans home happy, Friday’s win wasn’t without adversity. The biggest setback came just 1:33 into the first period when Rebels forward Owen DeWitt crunched Max Heise in the corner.
The replay showed DeWitt hit Heise shoulder-to-shoulder, but the force of the collision drove the Raider forward’s head into the glass.
Heise, who led the Raiders in goals during the regular season, stayed down until the officiating crew blew the play dead. DeWitt was not penalized on the play.
“Heiser goes down there—kind of a bit of a dirty hit—but we just got to our game, didn’t get discouraged, and played for him,” Cootes said. “Obviously, we hope he gets better really fast because he’s one of our best players.”
“Hopefully he’s all right,” Cripps added. “We kept an even keel. We didn’t really get mad at the refs or anything too much. We just played our game.”
It was Heise’s first and last shift of the game. The San Jose Sharks draft pick was up and walking outside the Raider dressing room afterward, but McDonald said they wouldn’t have an update on his condition until Saturday.
McDonald said the Raiders didn’t let the hit negatively impact them. Instead, the Raiders responded with some physical play of their own, led by captain Justice Christensen who hammered 6’5 Rebel defenceman Aleksey Chichkin into the Prince Albert bench in the second period.
The hit brought the Art Hauser Centre’s standing-room only crowd to their feet, and set the tone for the rest of the night.
“Just a real complete effort,” McDonald said. “I thought our puck management was great. Again, we were able to get pucks in behind and get on our forecheck and sustain some o-zone time by using our feet and grinding underneath, and the guys did a great job.”
The Raiders outplayed the Rebels through the first 50 minutes, but only led 2-1. Part of that was due to Kondro, who turned aside 35 of 39 Prince Albert shots. The rest was due to bad puck luck.
Raider goaltender Michael Orsulak turned away 22 of 23 shots in his first WHL playoff start, but was powerless to do much about the one that got past him.
Red Deer forward Poul Andersen fired a one-timer on the power play that bounced off the skates of two Prince Albert penalty killers before sliding across the goal line.
“I just tried to put one on net,” Andersen said after the game. “(It) hit a couple of skates, and found its way in.”
During previous meetings, Andersen’s goal might have cued a Rebel comeback. Instead, the Raiders truck twice in the final 10 minutes to secure the victory.
Despite the loss, Andersen was happy with his club’s performance.
“I think we can obviously play with them,” he said. “(It’s) 2-1 with eight minutes left in the third period. If we get a couple bounces, a couple calls, it might be a different outcome. I think we’re right there.
“(We’ll) clean up a couple things in our own end, in the neutral zone, obviously try and get in the o-zone a bit more, (and) just try and keep a level head.”
McDonald said he wasn’t surprised with how the Raider buckled down to score two late goals to secure the win.
“That’s our group, just even keel,” he said. “You don’t sense anything on the bench. They just continue to go about their business shift in and shift out, looking to stack up that next positive shift.”
News and Notes:
• Daxon Rudolph nabbed the game winner for Prince Albert when he banked a wrap-around attempt off Kondro’s pad and into the net roughly two minutes into the second period. Aiden Oiring and Brandon Gorzynski drew assists on the play.
• Christensen may have had the hit of the night, but it wasn’t a one-sided competition. Jonah Sivertson almost nabbed the award when he flattened Cameron Kuzma at the Red Deer blue line late in the second.
• Orsulak’s best save of the night also came in the second period when he stopped Kalder Varga on a clear-cut breakaway. Varga tried to go five-hole, but the Raider goaltender quickly closed his pads to keep the Rebels off the board.
• The Raiders were 1/4 on the powerplay. The Rebels were 1/3.
• Both teams are back at it again on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
