Early in the second period, Braeden Cootes took over. First Linden Burrett knocked the puck down at the left side of centre and quickly passed ahead as Alisher Sarkenov had just stepped onside. Sareknov moved the puck to the middle for Cootes who sped in on a breakaway, and Cootes fired a wrist shot on for his third of the playoffs at 1:04.
A few shifts later, and Cootes had his second of the night at 5:46. Matyas Man knocked the puck down at the right side of centre this time, and as a pile up formed around Man, Cootes worked the puck free and skated up the right wall. Cootes faked a move to the centre, then pulled the string and went back to the right, and fired short side for his fourth of the playoffs and an overall beauty.
Midway through the period, the Raiders were hit with 14 seconds of 5-on-3. On the initial powerplay, the Blades hit a post, and when it came for the two man disadvantge, the Blades even had a onetimer go off both posts and out.
Always the showman, Michal Orsulak gave the post a kiss to say thank you after the puck was cleared down the ice.
After 2: Raiders 3 – 0 Blades, shots 9-8 Raiders, 23-14 Raiders overall
The third period saw the Raiders poor it on offensively, but they couldn’t find a way to put another goal past Evan Gardner. The Raiders even got a third powerplay chance with about four minutes left in the third when Aiden Oiring got the puck with a look at an open net, but he was tripped to the ice. He fired a shot when he stood up, which was blocked by a defender.
The Blades did kill off the penalty and eventually get their goaltender pulled, and that lead to another penalty for the Raiders for clearing the puck over glass and delay of game. Almost immediately into the 6-on-4 advantage, Evan Smith stood in front of a onetimer, corralled the loose puck, and hit the empty net from his own blueline for a gutsy first goal of the playoffs at 19:29.
FINAL: Raiders 4 – 0 Blades, shots 18-9 Raiders, 41-23 Raiders overall
For the fourth time in the last five meetings, the Raiders shut out the Blades. The Blades have just one goal in the series, scored on the powerplay in the third period of Game 2, and since then the Raiders have held the Blades scoreless for 129 minutes and eight seconds of play.
Dating back to the last six games, including Feb. 14 where the Raiders came from behind to win 5-4 in a shootout, the Blades have failed to score an even strength goal against the Raiders for a total of 337 minutes and 18 seconds. That’s a 16 periods of hockey, plus another 17 minutes and 18 seconds.
It also serves as Michal Orsulak’s third shutout of the Blades in the last four matchups between the two teams. Along with a little help from the posts, Orsulak was played fantastic to help secure the win.
For the second round in a row, the Raiders will head into the fourth game with a chance to sweep the series. Last time around, they were surprised in Game 4 and had to come back to the Art Hauser Centre for one final game. Game 4 goes Wednesday night in Saskatoon.
