The Prince Albert Raiders won with speed and finesse in Game 1.
In Game 2, they did it with stubbornness and determination.
Owen Corkish broke a scoreless tie midway through the second period, and Jonah Sivertson and Matyas Man added some insurance as the Prince Albert Raiders ground out a 3-0 win at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday.
“We stuck with it,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said. “It took a period and a bit to get the first one. They came out hard. They pushed. We pushed back and continued to play fast, continued to play up the ice, play north, and got our opportunities.”
“We played simple (and) we played hard,” added Corkish, who now has three goals in his last five games. “We did the right things that we needed to do and it came out in the end.”
The Raiders controlled the opening period of play, but weren’t as lethal as in Game 1. They outshot the Blades 11-3 in the first period on Saturday, but couldn’t beat Saskatoon netminder Evan Gardner until the second when Corkish banged in a rebound for a lead the Raiders never relinquished.
“I saw (Daxon) Rudolph about to shoot the puck on the net and I thought I should stand in front of the net and see what happens—see if there’s a rebound,” Corkish said afterwards. “Luckily it went off me and in.”
The lead-up to the second Raider goal had a similar workmanlike quality. Alisher Sarkenov stole the puck at the Raider blue-line and sprung Sivertson, who wired a wrist shot past Gardner’s blocker for a 2-0 lead.
“I look at Corky’s (goal) and that’s why you land at the net front and go to the paint. (He) gets rewarded by going to a real tough area and gets a goal. The second one, same thing,” McDonald said. “We do a great job at the defensive blue line, and get through our check and push it out. (The puck) gets on our stick and we go down and get rewarded for it.”
The two goal second period outburst was a bitter turn of events for the Blades, who had their chances to take an early lead. The best came late in the first when Brayden Dube received a double minor for high-sticking Blades defenceman Jordan Martin. The second best came right before Corkish’ tally, when Saskatoon had a four-on-two break, but couldn’t generate a shot on goal.
“I think that we’re trying to be a little bit too cute,” Blades coach Dan DaSilva said. “Now you’ve got to give them credit. They’re doing a good job getting in lanes. I think that our shot attempts were better tonight, but we’ve got to do a better job hitting the net, getting it past the (shot) blocker, and having more of a shot mentality.
“When you’re not scoring goals, not getting any offence, you’ve definitely got to simplify that area too and start getting some more pucks on net and get a couple greasy ones,” he added. “That’s something we’ll address for sure.”
After Friday’s loss, DaSilva said the Blades simplified their game. The coaching staff told the team they needed to play harder, faster, and more “north-south”.
Although they didn’t win, the staff saw plenty of improvement.
“We were right there over halfway through the second period, zero-zero,” DaSilva said. “We take a chance on a rush, we don’t execute, and they come back and put it in the back of our net. (It was) a better effort from our group for sure. It is going to be a tall task. We know that, but I think that was a step in the right direction.”
Any hopes of a comeback on Saturday got a lot thinner when Matyas Man increased the Raider lead early in the third period. Man’s one-timer beat Gardner over the shoulder just 1:01 into the third after a great bit of forechecking from Sivertson and Braeden Cootes.
The goal came as a welcome surprise to the lanky defenceman.
“I was pretty confident—not that I was going to score, but that I was going to hit the net,” Man said with a laugh. “I was a little bit surprised that I scored. I’m not there to score the goals. We have a lot of other players to score.”
Gardner played all 60 minutes on Saturday and was especially sharp in the first two periods. He finished with 34 saves, 18 of which came in the second.
At the other end, Michael Orsulak finished with 15 stops, and only one nervous moment. The Raider goaltender fired the puck off the side of his own net early in the second, a move that drew a startled reaction from the hometown crowd, but was solid and unflappable the rest of the way.
“He’s always there for us,” Corkish said. “He’s such an amazing goalie and an even better human being. He was pretty awesome behind the pipes there.”
“Great friend, great guy, and I’m really proud of him,” Man added. “He’s (playing) really good…. He’s really important to our team.”
The win puts the Raiders up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. Both teams are headed to Saskatoon for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Puck drop is seven p.m. for both games.
Game 5, if necessary, is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday.
“It (being up 2-0) feels good, of course, but we still have not won the second round,” Man said. “We need to dig deep.”
News and Notes:
• Prince Albert Raiders defenceman Brock Cripps generated the loudest cheer of the night when he dropped the gloves with Blades centre Ben Bowtell midway through the second. The short but spirited scrap came after both players hammered away at each other for 10-15 seconds at the side of the Raider goal.
• The Raiders received their only power play when Zach Olsen was sent off for hooking with 5:22 to play in the second. They did not score on it. The Blades had three power plays on the evening and also failed to capitalize.
• For the second straight game, the announced crowd was 3,299.
• Fans purchased more than $200,000 worth of 50/50 raffle tickets. The winner went home with $100,025.
