By Jeff D'Andrea

Son of Raider legend lifts Portland to 5-2 victory

Oct 24, 2014 | 10:29 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders found themselves in a 2-2 tie after 40 minutes with the Portland Winterhawks in a game that could have gone either way Friday at the Art Hauser Centre.

But in the third, it was all Portland as the Winterhawks scored three unanswered goals to beat the Raiders 5-2.

“They scored two shots from the point that had eyes,” said Raiders head coach Cory Clouston. “One of them went off the post and the other one, the guy (‘Hawks forward Paul Bittner) just got his stick on it and tipped it.

“To me, that was the difference.”

The Winterhawk that had both of those point shots was Layne Viveiros—the son of Raiders legend Emanuel Viveiros. Emanuel who was a big part of the Raiders’ Memorial Cup winning team in 1985 and is on the Raiders’ Wall of Honour.

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Layne scored the game-winner with a point blast, assisted on Bittner’s tip-in, and also assisted on Anton Cederholm’s shorthanded, empty netter. All three of Layne’s points came in the third to help lift the Winterhawks over the Raiders.

“It’s obviously a confidence booster knowing that my dad played here for four years, it’s a good memory to have,” said 19-year-old Layne, who has 12 points in 15 games this year. “It could be my last time playing here in this rink, so that’s a good memory to have.”

A glaring difference between the two sides was their special teams play. The Winterhawks were 2-3 on the power play while the Raiders were 0-4 with the man-advantages.

After starting the year off with one of the WHL’s best power plays, the Raiders have cooled off. Since Oct. 7, the Raiders have scored on just 6.4 per cent of their chances, (2-31).

They had key power play opportunities to get back into the game in the third period, especially after Winterhawks forward Alex Schoenborn took a five-minute major for a checking to the head penalty on Raiders forward Reid Gardiner midway through the third.

Gardiner did not return as he had a big gash on his forehead, and was bleeding profusely on the ice in the moments following the hit.

“Gardiner goes down, so that doesn’t help,” said Clouston. “Your first unit has a different player on it and with (Dakota) Conroy leaving (on Sunday), you’re trying to create chemistry with new guys on the power play.

“It’s not easy when you do it on the fly. We basically had one, two practices to try and work on it with the new pairings and when Gardiner goes down, he’s very important on our power play, it didn’t help matters.”

Last year, the Raiders had the third best man-advantage in the WHL clicking at 24.9 per cent. Raiders captain Josh Morrissey, who quarterbacks the first power play unit, believes this year’s club can recover their form.

“I think in any season, a power play goes through ups and downs. Last season, I think we had one of the top power plays in the league and we went through some ups and downs (then),” said Morrissey. “It’ll come, it’s still early yet in the season.

“I think one of the things I’ve noticed is we need to get pucks in a little harder and battle a little more down low. Even though you’re up a guy, the motto still has to be to outwork the penalty killing unit.”

Summary

Jayden Hart opened the scoring in the first period to extend his goal scoring streak to three games.

Then Miles Koules and Keegan Iverson both scored for the Winterhawks to give them a 2-1 advantage into the second period. Mackenze Stewart scored the lone goal of the second to tie the game at 2-2 heading into the third.

Viveiros opened the scoring three minutes in the third on the power play, with Bittner scoring with eight minutes left and Cederholm adding the empty insurance marker with two minutes left.

Nick McBride made 29 saves on 33 shots for the Raiders in a losing effort. Bolton Pouliot picked up the two points for the Winterhawks with 29 saves on 31 shots.

Gardiner questionable for Saturday

Gardiner, who suffered a laceration after the high collision from Schoenborn in the third period, did not return to Friday’s game. There’s also a chance miss Saturday’s game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

“He’s got a huge cut on his forehead, I’m not liking what I see,” said Clouston. “We’ll wait and see tomorrow, he’s getting stitched up.

“It’s not very nice looking.”

Gardiner leads the Raiders with seven goals and is tied for the team lead with 10 points. The Raiders had only 11 forwards again for Friday’s game. Should they lose Gardiner, they could be down to 10 forwards if newly acquired Marcus Messier isn’t cleared to play on Saturday’s game.

Trouble vs. Portland

The last time the Winterhawks visited P.A. back on Oct. 10, 2012, they beat the Raiders by an identical 5-2 score.

The Raiders haven’t beaten the Portland Winterhawks since Oct. 21, 2008 and have lost all six meetings since.

This season, the Winterhawks started the year losing their first five games, but have since gone 4-4-0-2.

Wrapping up homestand

The Raiders will conclude their five-game homestand Saturday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The homestand dated back to Oct. 17, when the Raiders lost 3-1 to the Edmonton Oil Kings, but rebounded the next day with a 4-2 win over the Red Deer Rebels. The Raiders also beat the Ice 3-2 on Tuesday before Friday’s game.

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea