A goal with just over four minutes off the tape of Julius Miettinen turned out to be the difference as the Everett Silvertips skated to a 3-2 win over the Prince Albert Raiders in Game 3 of the WHL Final at the Art Hauser Centre on Tuesday night to take a 2-1 series lead.
Speaking to the media postgame, Raider head coach Ryan McDonald said he liked the start, but penalties led to Prince Albert getting away from their game.
“I think we’ve had a really good first 30 minutes. We were quick, we were direct, we were behind. We got pucks behind and got to work. They were able to tilt the ice on us and, again, discipline has to be a big key for us. You got to stay out of the penalty box and give them some opportunities on the power play. I thought our penalty kill did a great job when they were out there. But again, those are hard minutes that you got to play in. For us, on the power play, just got to look to capitalize on our opportunities and continue to keep inching that shot clock up.”
Everett would fire the opening salvo at the 11:45 mark as Matias Vanhanen would skate into the zone and fire a wrist shot that beat Michal Orsulak clean for his 11th goal of the postseason. Carter Bear and Julius Miettinen provided the helpers.
The Raider power play would bring the Art Hauser Centre to life at the 18:19 mark. Max Heise would fire home a one timer for his fourth of the playoffs following a quick one touch pass from Braeden Cootes. Brock Cripps had the secondary assist on the play.
Ben Harvey would give the Raiders the lead 1:59 into the second period as the 16-year-old defenceman tipped home his fourth of the playoffs over the shoulder of Silvertips netminder Anders Miller. Justice Christensen and Maddix McCagherty picked up the helpers on the play.
A floating shot from the point from Luke Vlooswyk would tie the game for the Silvertips at the 18:07 mark of the middle frame. The Philadelphia Flyers prospect fired a shot through traffic that went over the blocker for his first goal of the playoffs. Mattias Uyeda and Nolan Chastko had the helpers.
Silvertips head coach Steve Hamilton said he thought his team got better late in the second period and into the third.
“I thought the second half of the second period, we kind of found it a little bit and got a little bit harder, more physical, got involved, and then started to really get into it and did a good job suppressing chances, and felt like we were more in stride in that second half of the game.”
The Raiders killed off a length 5-on-3 at the start of the third period after Matyas Man was called for hooking and Benett Kelly picked up a cross checking minor at the buzzer.
Prince Albert had two chances of their own on the man advantage as Carter Bear was called for two separate minors for boarding and high sticking near the mid way point of the final frame. The Raiders were unable to capitalize on either opportunity going 1 for 6 on the power play for the evening.
Julius Miettinen was the hero for Everett as the Seattle Kraken prospect gave the Silvertips the lead with his 13th goal of the postseason. He was stopped on his initial attempt, but picked up his own rebound and slid it over Orsulak. Brek Liske and Carter Bear were credited with assists.
The Raiders were without a big piece in their lineup tonight as Daxon Rudolph served a one game suspension after taking a five minute major and game misconduct at the end of Game 2 in Everett.
“Ultimately, he’s a big piece of what we do out there.” McDonald said in his postgame media availability. “I thought the guys, they continue to battle hard and battle hard all night. We’ve got to make sure that discipline is key, so we don’t have to play those extra hard minutes on the kill.”
Game 4 goes tomorrow night at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.
