Raiders forward Dante Hannoun collides at centre ice with Oil Kings forward Trey Fix-Wolansky. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

D'ing Up

Goals may be hard to come by in this series

Apr 20, 2019 | 1:58 PM

It may be a cliché, and it may be overused to death. But there is some truth in the phrase “defence wins championships.”

Both the Prince Albert Raiders and Edmonton Oil Kings have bought into that statement, and have consistently been among the stingiest teams this season without sacrificing their offences.

After shutting out the Oil Kings for a 1-0 victory in Game 1 on Friday, the Raiders are first in the WHL playoffs by surrendering just 1.73 goals per game. They’re also the only team that advanced past the first round to give up less than 20 goals, sitting at 19 at the moment.

Of their 11 postseason games, the Raiders have held their opponents to one goal or less six times, including two shutouts.

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But as good as the Raiders have been defensively, they’ve made sure to strike a balance and not sacrifice their offence.

The Raiders are also second in goals per contest with 3.64, behind only the Vancouver Giants.

As much as it can be tempting to do absolutely everything in their power this series to shutdown Oil Kings 100-point-getter in Trey Fix-Wolansky, the Raiders don’t want to see their fast-moving offence come to a halt either every time he takes the ice.

“We have to measure that too, because we’re a tempo team. We don’t want to take that away from us, too,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “We try to measure that with our group and try to keep our guys in sync as much as we can.

Of course, goaltender Ian Scott would make any defence look better. He leads the playoffs in everything, 1.64 goals against average, .934 save percentage, nine wins and two shutouts including Friday’s 26-save performance. The also had a banner season with the Raiders with 1.83 goals against average, .932 save percentage, 38 wins and eight shutouts.

The Oil Kings are right behind the Raiders when it comes to team defence. They’ve given up 2.09 goals per game in the postseason, tied for second with the Giants. Goaltender Dylan Myskiw has also been dialed in. He’s only allowed three goals in his last four games for a .968 save percentage.

“Mysk is solid back there, he’s been our rock all year,” Oil Kings defenceman Wyatt McLeod said. “It was huge the way he played all game today [in Game 1], he kept us in it, for sure. Nothing out of the ordinary with him though.”

The Oil Kings will look to find some offence of their own in this series. Fix-Wolansky, the WHL Eastern Conference Player of the Year has one big idea.

“Playing behind their D, I think that’s the most important thing,” Fix-Wolansky said. “We have a very strong forecheck. Once we solidify that, the rest of our game’s going to follow.”

Game 2 is at Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre.

The series will then switch to Tuesday and Wednesday, when the Oil Kings will host the Raiders for Games 3 and 4 at Rogers Place.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW