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Heading into the third game of the Western Hockey League’s Eastern Conference semifinal, Saskatoon Blades captain Tyler Parr knows how high the stakes are.
While the Blades’ season won’t be on the line against the Prince Albert Raiders on Tuesday night, he said the team will have to compete like it is.
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“That’s the way we’ve got to play,” Parr said. “We got to have that desperation. It’s the first to four wins, but we’re back home now and we got to get a win.”
The Blades are hoping a change of scenery will jump start their second-round series with Prince Albert after a pair of humbling losses over the weekend.
Saskatoon kicked off the Highway 11 rivalry series with a 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Raiders on Friday, a game which saw Blades goaltender Evan Gardner pulled after the second period.
While the second game saw a better effort by the Blades, they failed to beat the WHL’s goaltender of the week Michal Orsulak, who recorded a 15-save shutout in a 3-0 victory for Prince Albert.
Blades head coach Dan DaSilva said his team hasn’t yet reached its standard, which was on full display in the Blades’ opening-round series win against the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“We haven’t been at our best through the first two games,” DaSilva said on Monday.
“I think that (Prince Albert) has played really well, but I don’t think that we’ve been to the level that we’re capable of quite yet.”
The Raiders have spread out their scoring over the first two games, with eight of the team’s nine goals coming from different players.
Despite facing off against the top regular-season team in the Eastern Conference, Blades forward Zach Olsen said Prince Albert’s lightning-quick start to the series has taken them by surprise.
“You got to give props to them,” Olsen said.
“They came out hard. I don’t think we were really expecting that and ready for that.”
He said the Blades were on their toes during the series against Edmonton, but now they’re on their heels against the Raiders.
Defensively, the Raiders have been dominant, not only through the first two games of the series, but during the regular season as well.
Prince Albert has recorded shutouts in three of the Raiders’ last four meetings against Saskatoon, with the Blades’ lone goal against the Raiders since February 14 coming from Olsen on a power play in the first game. That means the Blades have played 13 consecutive periods of hockey against Prince Albert without an even-strength goal scored.
“We definitely have to find ways to get pucks in behind them and spend more time in their zone,” DaSilva said.
“It’s too ‘one and done’ for us right now, and that’s something we’re looking at addressing.”
Raiders faithful packed the Art Hauser Centre for both games, selling out both events to the tune of 3,299 fans and jumping at the chance to make life harder for the Blades.
According to Parr, the effect from the Raiders crowd was noticeable, especially during Friday’s series-opening game.
“The slow start might have just been a little tentative, maybe a little bit scared,” Parr said.
“It was an intimidating crowd. They’re a good team. I don’t think it was guys not getting up for the game. It was just (players) kind of dipping their foot in.”
With the series heading back to Saskatoon for the third game, DaSilva said it’s important for his players not to let the stage get too big, and to play with some extra aggression on Tuesday.
“You got to shed those nerves and just go out there and play,” DaSilva said. “You can’t be afraid of making mistakes when you play this game, especially at this juncture of the season. We got to shed that, just go out and play the way they know we’re capable of.”
The Blades are expecting to have as many as 8,000 fans in attendance for Tuesday’s game, which they hope will help turn the tide of the series in the same way the Raiders fed off their own home-ice advantage.
“The Art Hauser is a really hard place to play in, and their fans did a great job of creating energy,” Parr said.
“It’s going to be the same thing here for us, so we’re really looking forward to it. A big shift here to get our fans going right off the start, I think, is going to be huge for us.”
Coming off the emotional high of a seventh-game overtime win in Edmonton a week ago, the Blades have been outscored by the Raiders 9-1 through two games.
Despite the rough outings up the road in Prince Albert, DaSilva said his Saskatoon squad still has plenty to prove as the lowest-seeded team still in the playoff hunt.
He said cleaning up poor play with the puck will be the team’s top priority.
“We got to be better,” DaSilva said.
“We know that. The guys inside the room know that. We also know that we plan on this being a long series, and that’s still the plan. We still want to establish our game and show that we’re more than capable of playing in this round.”
The Blades look to get themselves back in the series Tuesday with a win, while the Raiders have a shot at a commanding 3-0 series lead.
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at SaskTel Centre.
