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After the Prince Albert Raiders returned home with a split from the first two games of the WHL finals in Everett over the weekend, confidence and expectations were high in heading into Game 3 against the Silvertips.
Even without Daxon Rudolph in the lineup due to a suspension, the teams traded the lead back and forth, but the Silvertips got the last laugh, taking a 3-2 win and a 2-1 series lead.
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The game started off with some great chances back and forth for both teams, but a successful Raiders penalty kill slowed down the momentum early in the period. Still, the Silvertips managed to take the game’s first lead on a rush play 11:45 into the period, when Julius Matias Vanhanen cut over the blueline towards the left, used a couple Raiders as a screen, then fired his shot to give the Silvertips the lead.
At the end of the period, however, the Raiders scored a little over a minute into their first powerplay. Without their leading scorer in the lineup, the Raiders’ powerplay had a different look at the blueline, with Max Heise on the left side, Brock Cripps in the middle and Braeden Cootes on the right. The pucked worked from Heise to Cripps, to Heise, back Cripps, to Cootes and back across for Heise again for his fourth goal of the playoffs at 18:19.
The second period started with some four-on-four play that ended with 10 seconds of Silvertips powerplay, but the Raiders spent that 10 seconds in the offensive zone and it lead to a goal. At the 1:59 mark, Maddix McCagherty entered the zone and stopped inside the left side blueline to wait for the play to catch up. He sent the puck down low into the left corner, where Justice Christensen crashed in, circled back up the left wall, then turned and fired. Ben Harvey had his stick in the right place for a perfect tip to give the Raiders the lead with his fourth goal of the playoffs.
From there, though, the Silvertips started to slowly take over the period, and just as it looked like the Raiders were starting to find their groove again, the Silvertips came back the other way and tied it. The puck was dumped in around the boards and came back to defenceman Mattias Uyeda at the left point. He sent it across to the right for Luke Vlooswyk, who took one step back then fired around a screen. The puck hit the back of the net before anyone could react at 18:07.
The third period saw the Raiders down to five on three for 1:08, with two defencemen in the box, but they managed to kill it off. But they failed to capitalize on the momentum, even with two powerplays in the middle of the period, and eventually Everett finally broke through.
That led to a wild finish.
As the Raiders were trying to tie the game, Benett Kelly was called for tripping. That put the Raiders down a man for the final 1:51 remaining in the game, and the Silvertips used that advantage to play keep away. After a Raiders defender stepped up to desperately try to take a pass away, Shea Busch managed to get a breakaway, but Michal Orsulak stopped it. Zack Shantz picked up the rebound and tried to wrap it around the other way, but Michal Orsulak made the save of the playoffs, kicking his right foot out and holding the puck against the post.
That led to a rush the other way, and Aiden Oiring was tripped. With 14.5 seconds left, the Raiders had an offensive zone faceoff and a five-on-four advantage with the goaltender pulled to try and tie the game. The Raiders worked the puck back and forth as the Silvertips pressured, not allowing for an easy shot, but the Raiders finally found Riley Boychuk with time and space for a shot just before the clock hit zero, but his shot missed as he tried to avoid a sliding block, and the Silvertips won Game 3 with a score of 3-2.
The Raiders will host the Silvertips for Game 4 on Wednesday. The puck drops at 7:30 at the Art Hauser Centre.
