The Prince Albert Raiders survived the first period, but thrived in the second and third to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven WHL Final against the Everett Silvertips.
The Raiders found themselves down 1-0 early in the second, and could have been down a lot more had goaltender Michal Orsulak not stopped a flurry of Everett chances.
But when the action shifted to the other end of the ice, the Raider offence delivered. Jonah Sivertson, Braeden Cootes, and Justice Christensen all scored second period goals as Prince Albert skated to a 4-2 win.
“We knew they were going to push off the start,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said. “I thought the guys settled into the game and continued to play north and play direct and play behind. I thought our sticks were good all night, and we capitalized on our opportunities.”
Orsulak was the key for the Raiders. The Czech netminder stopped 39 shots, including 16 in a busy second period.
The list of saves included a breakaway stop on Jaxsin Vaughan less than three minutes into the second. Orsulak then turned away Julius Miettinen roughly a minute later after a Daxon Rudolph turnover.
Orsulak bailed the Raiders out again in the third with a big pad save on Matias Vanhanen, who intercepted a Braeden Cootes pass at the blue line and skated in all alone for a scoring chance.
“I thought Ors was tremendous tonight,” McDonald said. “He stood tall when we needed him and made those real timely saves for us. (He) was very clean and very tidy.”
Orsulak’s play helped the Raiders survive the Silvertip offence, who were buoyed by an enthusiastic crowd of 7,697. Those fans fell silent 5:12 into the second when Cootes delivered a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Sivertson in the slot. The Regina product fired a wrist shot past Everett goaltender Anders Miller to tie the game at one.
The building went quiet again nearly 10 minutes later. With Silvertips defenceman Brek Liske in the penalty box for cross-checking Linden Burrett, Cootes fired a harmless looking wrist shot that snuck through the screen in front and past Miller’s pad to make it 2-1.
Christensen added to the Raider lead when he hammered a one-timer into the top corner following a beautiful cross-ice pass from Rudolph. The last two goals came just 1:43 apart.
“The guys did a great job,” McDonald said when asked about the second period scoring outburst. “We get one on the power play, which was a big goal and again, the two even strength ones, five-on-five and four on four, (we) got pucks underneath and were able to win battles underneath the goal line and get pucks in front and guys did a great job finishing.”
The Silvertips piled on the pressure in the third, outshooting the Raiders 13-5, and getting within one after Miettinen finally solved Orsulak with a power play goal at 17:51. Everett then came within inches of making it 3-3, but Rudolph successfully tied up Zachary Shantz at the side of the goal.
Moments later, Aiden Oiring fired the puck the length of the ice and into an empty Everett net.
“I thought the guys did a great job of settling in,” McDonald said. “That’s a big crowd and a loud crowd. They did a great job of settling into the game and sticking with our process and sticking with our details and habits.”
News and Notes:
• Both teams had one power play goal on the night. Everett had four chances to score theirs. The Raiders had one.
• After dominating the Medicine Hat Tigers in the face-off circle last series, the Raiders met their match in Everett. The Silvertips won 31 draws compared to just 22 for Prince Albert.
• Carter Bear opened the scoring 6:07 into the first period. The goal led to a lengthy stoppage while the officiating crew determined if the play should have been blown dead for a high stick.
• With the win, the Raiders have now won the first game of every series this playoff.
• The two teams are back at it again on Saturday for Game 2. Puck drop is 7 p.m. Saskatchewan time.
Scoring Summary
First period
1. EVT – Bear (4) (Vanhanen, Miettinen) 6:07
Penalties: PA – Boychuk (Hooking), PA – Dube (Holding-Opponents-Stick)
Second period
2. PA – Sivertson (3) (Cootes, Howe) 5:12
3. PA – Cootes (7) (Cripps, Sarkenov) 15:07 (PP)
4. PA – Christensen (2) (Rudolph, Dube) 17:50
Penalties: PA – McCagherty (Tripping), EVT – Liske (Cross-Checking), PA – Boychuk (Roughing), EVT – Heslop (Roughing)
Third Period
5. EVT – Miettinen (11) (DuPont) 17:51 (PP)
6. PA – Oiring (8) 18:55 (EN)
Penalties: PA – Man (Tripping)
