Braeden Cootes scored two goals, Michal Orsulak made 23 saves, and the Prince Albert Raiders are one win away from a spot in the Eastern Conference Final.
Cootes broke open a 1-0 game with two second period goals less than five minutes apart as the Raiders cruised to a 4-0 win over the Saskatoon Blades. Brandon Gorzynski scored the game winner on Prince Albert’s first shot, and Evan Smith added a short-handed empty-netter with 31 seconds left.
“I thought it was a great effort from start to finish,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said. “Great details, great habits by our group.”
The Raiders scored first in both of the first two games in this Eastern Conference semi-final match-up and that trend continued on Tuesday. Brandon Gorzynski chipped a Brayden Dube pass over Evan Gardner 3:19 into the first period to give the Raiders the lead.
Early in the second, Alisher Sarkenov sprung Cootes on breakaway for his first goal of the game. The Vancouver Canucks draft pick fired a shot that squeezed through Blades goaltender Evan Gardner’s equipment and into the net just 1:04 into the period.
Cootes was at it again nearly five minutes later. He took a Matyas Man pass and fired a perfectly placed wrist shot over Gardner’s glove to give Prince Albert a 3-0 lead.
“Both tremendous finishes by Braeden, and both a little different,” McDonald said. “One back against the grain and one short-side shelf coming off the rush.
“It was the work of the (Aiden) Oiring line before who continued to grind in the o-zone. (They) grind that unit down and then Cootes’ unit hops out. Cootsy makes two great plays and gets rewarded for it.”
Orsulak was solid once again for the Raiders, although he had a bit of help. The Raider netminder benefited from a few favourable bounces during a second period Blades power play. With Maddix McCagherty off for hooking, Blades forward David Lewandowski fired a wrist shot that appeared to hit both posts, and possibly the crossbar.
The Tremosna, Czechia product responded by kissing his goalposts. Saskatoon would not come any closer.
“They threw lots of pucks to the paint and Orsi did a great job in the pipes for us,” McDonald said. “We were able to get to our pace, get pucks going north, and get rewarded going to the net.”
The Blades had a small measure of hope when Daxon Rudolph was sent off for delay of game with 41 seconds to play in the third. However, Smith quickly extinguished any hopes of a come-back with an empty net goal from the other end of the ice.
With the win, the Raiders are now up 3-0 in the best-of-seven series, and have a chance to close out their provincial rivals in Game 4 on Wednesday. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.
“Stick with it,” McDonald said when asked what the message was to his team heading into Game 4. “Stick with our process. Stick with our details. Stick with our habits and again, we’ve done a tremendous job all year enjoying it, but then flipping the page and being ready to take care of our business the next day.”
