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The Prince Albert Raiders are knocking on the door of the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference final, while the Saskatoon Blades will be playing for their season.
On Tuesday night at SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon, the Raiders took a 3-0 stranglehold in their second-round series against the Blades with a 4-0 Game 3 victory.
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Braeden Cootes led the way for Prince Albert, with the Vancouver Canucks’ first-round pick and mid-season trade chip from Seattle netting a pair of goals on the road to secure the win.
“It was obviously nice anytime you can help out to win,” Cootes said post-game.
“Obviously, that’s one of my jobs. It’s been awesome since I’ve been here, it’s so fun. Everybody is so bought in, we have a common goal and everybody is just dialed in.”
Raiders goaltender Michal Orsulak, meanwhile, registered his second straight shutout over the Blades with a 23-save night.
Following Tuesday night’s loss, the Blades will be staring down playoff elimination as early as Wednesday’s Game 4 at SaskTel Centre.
“They’re not going to quit in that room,” said Blades head coach Dan DaSilva.
“This is not a team that’s going to roll over and die by any means. We have some great leaders in that room that have come back from 3-0 series deficits before. They know anything can happen in this league, you just got to keep believing.”
Prince Albert needed only 3:19 to open the scoring with Dallas Stars prospect Brandon Gorzynski netting his fourth goal of the playoffs off a pass to the front of the net by Brayden Dube.
Coming out of the first intermission with a 1-0 lead, Prince Albert struck again 1:04 into the second period from Cootes.
Raiders forward Alisher Sarkenov took the pass at the Saskatoon blue line and found Cootes on the partial breakaway, who finished the play off for his third goal of the playoffs.
Cootes wasn’t done there, turning Blades defenceman Kaden Allan inside out less than five minutes later before sniping his second goal of the period past Evan Gardner for the 3-0 lead.
Prince Albert’s Evan Smith added another goal to the Raiders’ tally as the centre threw the puck down the ice into the open net.
It’s the fourth time in the most recent five meetings between the Highway 11 rivals in which the Blades have been blanked by the Raiders.
Despite putting together what he called their best game of the series, DaSilva said there is a sense of frustration with just one goal in three games.
“I think that our guys are feeling a bit of weight on their shoulders,” DaSilva said.
“Just not being able to get a bounce or find the back of the net right now. I thought that we did a better job creating scoring chances tonight and the frustration is setting in a little bit.”
The Raiders have an opportunity to advance to their first Eastern Conference championship series since 2019 when they won the franchise’s second Ed Chynoweth Cup.
Head coach Ryan McDonald however, is expecting the Blades to play with a level of desperation Wednesday not seen yet in the series.
“We know this is going to be a Saskatoon team that’s going to push especially at home,” McDonald said. “Just stick to our process, stick to our details and stick to our habits.”
Blades defenceman Brayden Klimpke isn’t ready to hit the panic button with his team’s season on the line in Game 4.
“There’s a ton of belief in that room,” Klimpke said.
“Just trust the work we’ve done all year. We’ve work all year for this moment right now, so just trust the work we’ve put in and just go out there and play.”
Puck drop for Game 4 is scheduled for 7 p.m. at SaskTel Centre.
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