By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders squeak out a 2-1 shootout win over Swifty

Oct 30, 2012 | 10:50 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders acquired 20-year-old goaltender Luke Siemens for nights exactly like Tuesday.

In a game where they got outplayed at times, broke down defensively and surrendered breakaways, Siemens stood tall and made 30 saves on 31 shots in a 2-1 shootout win over the Swift Current Broncos.

“I think Luke was a big part of our win tonight,” said Raiders head coach Steve Young on Siemens, the game’s first star. “He made the timely saves, he’s in there with confidence and that gives the players confidence.

At the five-minute mark of the second period, Siemens made a ‘WHL Plays of the Week’ worthy glove save on Broncos assistant captain Josh Derko on a breakaway. Five minutes later, he made another breakaway stop on Graham Black and then robbed Chance Lund point-blank mere seconds later, all to keep the game scoreless.

“It’s definitely a motivational booster,” said Siemens. “Once you make those saves, it not only gets the team up but it gets myself up.

Lighting it up

P.A.'s Zablocki leads Regina to victory on Day 4 at Esso Cup

12h ago

WORLD SOFTBALL

Group stages officially set for Men's Softball World Cup in P.A.

18h ago

Safety first

Safety concerns and tips surrounding discarded needles in P.A.

Apr 23, 2024

“If you let them in, it deflates everybody and it can go the other way.”

It was a good thing Siemens made those and other tough saves, like robbing defenceman Dillon Heatherington with a quick blocker save in overtime, because the Raiders didn’t show their best stuff out there.

“It was one of those nights where we weren’t at the top of our game,” said Young. “We weren’t at the top of our speed, obviously, Swift Current may have had something to do with that.”

The last time the Broncos were in town was last Sunday and lost 5-1. Broncos general manager and head coach Mark Lamb admitted his team was “dead” as the Broncos played their third game in a row and their fourth in five nights.

That wasn’t the case on Tuesday as the better-rested Broncos were galloping at full-speed.

“It was definitely a different game, we had our legs tonight,” said Broncos captain Adam Lowry. “For the most part, we played a pretty consistent game. It’s a tough loss, anytime it goes to the shootout, it goes to an individual skill contest and it’s unfortunate we couldn’t get the second point, but I think we’re happy with how we played.”

The Broncos scored their lone goal of the game on a 5-on-3 power play late in the second, when Levi Bews buried a pass from Lowry in the back of the net. Heading into Tuesday, the Broncos posted a 2-5 record in large part because their power play was only clicking at 11.5 per cent, well below their season total of 25.7 per cent, the fifth best in the league.

“I think teams are keying on our power play,” said Lowry. “That’s a major part of offence and we’ve had our fair share of chances over the last seven games, we’ve just missed some bounces and missed some open nets.”

The Raiders answered with a power play goal themselves in the third, their only chance of the game on the man-advantage. After Mike Winther fanned on a one-timer attempt, the puck bounced behind the net right to Leon Draisaitl, who tapped it home. The Raiders came into the game with the worst power play percentage in home games at just 9.7 per cent.

“I guess it moves up a bit then when you’re 1-for-1,” said Young with a chuckle. “I think in the last two or three games, it’s coming. The example tonight may have not been exactly what we drew up, but we got the goal out of it.

“The more we can score off of it, the more things are going to come. That’s a big start and that’s a big goal—it’s something we have to build off of.”

Draisaitl had the only goal of the shootout as well, a slick forehand, to backhand, five-hole move past Swift Current goaltender Eetu Laurikainen, who made 27 saves in the game.

“It was pretty spectacular,” said Siemens on Drasaitl’s move. “I expected him to go glove and he went five-hole.”

Raiders ramblings

Raiders goal-scoring leader Dakota Conroy (with eight on the year) and two defencemen in Shayne Gwinner and Davis Vandane were all healthy scratched for Tuesday’s game.

“We have (team) rules, and they didn’t abide to them, so they didn’t play,” explained Young.
Young later added the benching was just for Tuesday’s game and all three are eligible to play in the Raiders’ next contest.

Raiders rookie forward Reid Gardiner is out week-to-week with an upperbody injury.

The Raiders will cap off their season-long, seven-game homestand with a game against the Edmonton Oil Kings (9-3-1-2, first in Central Division) at the Art Hauser Centre.

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea