The Prince Albert Raiders got all the offence they needed in the first period against the Spokane Chiefs on Friday night.
Daxon Rudolph, Jonah Sivertson, and Owen Corkish all scored in the first period as the Raiders jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on for a 5-2 win.
“We were taking what they gave us,” Raiders assistant coach Conory Yawney said when asked about the first period outburst. “We were handing off good shifts in the sense that we would play or make them defend in their zone for 45 seconds and then we’d outchange them. That opened up some stuff off the rush for the last group because some of those guys that were tracking for their team were tired and weren’t able to get there.”
The Raiders offensive outburst all came within a four minute span. Rudolph opened the scoring when he jumped into the rush and beat Chiefs goalie Carter Esler halfway through the first period.
Jonah Sivertson made it 2-0 with 7:21 to play when he crashed the net and knocked in a rebound.
Corkish made it 3-0 with 6:14 to play when he found himself all alone in the slot and beat Esler with a wrist shot.
Linden Burrett made it 4-0 late in the second before the Chiefs mounted a mini-comeback in the third. Coco Armstrong deposited a rebound past Raiders starter Michael Orsulak to make it 4-1, and Mathis Preston tipped in a point shot with less than five minutes to play to make it 4-2.
The Chiefs had the momentum, but it was short-lived. Spokane elected to pull the goalie with more than 2:30 remaining, a move that seemed to catch the Chiefs defence off guard.
With the Spokane net empty, the Chiefs allowed Alisher Sarkenov to skate over the red line and dump the puck into the empty net to make it 5-2.
“They fed off the energy of the crowd,” Yawney said when asked about Spokane’s third period rally. “They came out with a push as they should. I little bit of mismanagement, but not too much. It was just more that they made some plays. I liked how our group responded though, especially after that second one…. After that there was no panic or anything. It was just ‘go out and get the job done.’”
Michael Orsulak made 22 saves to earn his sixth WHL win. The Raiders goaltender made a number of key saves in the second, including a breakaway stop on Armstrong with less than seven minutes to play.
At the other end, Chiefs goaltender Carter Esler rebounded from the three goal third period with some solid play. The fourth Raiders goal came when Burrett snuck in behind the Chiefs forwards and was wide-open near the face-off circle when Riley Boychuk found him with a cross-ice pass.
“I thought tonight we, for the most part, played our game for the whole 60 minutes,” Yawney said. “They had their pushes, Spoke that is, and they want to win the game too. That’s understandable, so sometimes we had to receive it a bit, but I thought compared to the Lethbridge game, we played our style for longer.”
The Raiders are back on the road Saturday night when they face the Tri-City Americans. Puck drop is 8:05 CST.
News and Notes:
• Alisher Sarkenov may be endearing himself to his teammates in Prince Albert, but the same couldn’t be said of his older brother. Spokane Chiefs forward Assanali Sarkenov assisted on Coco Armstrong’s first goal, and fought Prince Albert Raiders’ captain Justice Christensen seconds later. The elder Sarkenov was also ejected on the play.
• Both teams had three power plays on Friday. Neither team scored with the man-advantage.
• Friday’s game was the last in a tough homestand for the Chiefs. Spokane lost four of their last five games—all of them at home—and were waxed 7-2 by Everett and 8-2 by Kamloops before their 5-2 loss to Prince Albert. Their only win came in overtime against the Saskatoon Blades.
• Spokane’s homestand came immediately after a successful swing through Alberta on their eastern road trip. The Chiefs recorded wins against Lethbridge, Red Deer, and Edmonton, losing to Medicine Hat and Calgary.
