Raiders forward Parker Kelly gives a jump-hug to Sergei Sapego after Sapego scored in the second period on Game 2 against the Vancouver Giants Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Dante's Peak

Raiders respond with Game 2 statement to square final series against Giants

May 4, 2019 | 10:42 PM

Throughout his five-year WHL career, it seems Dante Hannoun always seems to save his best games when he plays his hometown Vancouver Giants.

He certainly did on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre and Hannoun’s goal and two helpers paced his Prince Albert Raiders to a 4-0 win against the Giants. That ties up the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship series at 1-1 as both teams will head to Vancouver to play three games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

Hannoun now lead the series in scoring with two goals and five points in the first two games of the series. He was asked at the post-game press conference if he feels like there’s more motivation when he faces the Giants.

“Maybe a little, because it’s my hometown team,” said Hannoun, who’s from the Vancouver suburb of Delta. “Obviously, I have to step up a bit with all my family and friends watching.”

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Hannoun got to see quite a bit of the Giants, as he played his first 286 regular season games and 32 postseason games with the nearby Victoria Royals. He has 56 points in 52 career games against the Giants.

But despite his familiarity with being the Giants’ opposition and his extra motivation in playing his hometown team, Hannoun deferred a lot of his success to his line mates. Parker Kelly and Justin Nachbaur played beside Hannoun, and all three teamed up for the first two goals of the game.

“Kells and Nacho, they battle hard every night,” Hannoun said. “They’re battling down, Kells passed it out front and it was just a tap in [for me].”

“We’ve been preaching our forecheck from my line and I thought that was really great tonight,” Kelly added. “We hounded pucks, we created turnovers and luckily that led to a couple goals.”

Great Scott!

One day after surrendering five goals on 26 shots, Raiders goaltender Ian Scott rebounded with his fourth postseason shutout just 24 hours later. He only needed to make 15 saves in the game for the clean sheet, but made some timely saves like this one late in the period on Giants forward Justin Sourdif.

“The guys didn’t lose faith in me,” Scott said. “The sun came up this morning. The playoffs are going to be a rollercoaster, you just have to find that even level.”

The rest of the Raiders didn’t have any doubts about what Scott’s performance was going on be on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre.

“Yesterday, I think he knew it wasn’t his night but we didn’t worry about it,” Raiders assistant captain Kelly said. “He’s been our rock all year, all playoffs. He’s the goalie of the year for a reason, and we knew it was going to be a big performance from him. That’s definitely what happened.”

No Max

Raiders defenceman Max Martin awkwardly fell into the boards with 8:30 left in the second period while reaching for a puck against Giants forward Tristen Nielsen. Martin’s shoulder hit the boards, and he favoured it as he headed to the bench. Martin did not return for the game.

“I’ll use the old cliché, that ‘he’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow,’” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. Habscheid repeated the cliché when asked if Martin would travel with the team on Sunday.

Weird no-goal

Giants’ defenceman Dylan Plouffe thought he had a goal 2:16 into the third period to get the Giants on the board, but thanks to an awkward set of events, the goal was not allowed. Just before Plouffe delievered the shot, Raiders Noah Gregor hooked Giants forward Davis Koch and Koch fell into Raider goaltender Ian Scott. Despite the puck going in and no Raider touching it to stop play, the goal was not allowed and Gregor was given a penalty.

“Apparently the whistle blew before the puck went in the net. That was the explanation,” Giants head coach Michael Dyck said.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Raiders, Dante Hannoun from Parker Kelly, 10:17

Second Period

2-0, Raiders, Sergei Sapego from Parker Kelly and Dante Hannoun, 7:43

3-0, Raiders, Noah Gregor from Dante Hannoun and Max Martin (power play), 10:39

Third Period

4-0, Raiders, Brett Leason from Aliaksei Protas and Brayden Pachal, 18:39

Leavin’ for Langley

Both teams will head to B.C. for the next three games, Game 3 on Tuesday, Game 4 on Wednesday and Game 5 on Friday.

Check out coverage on paNOW.com throughout the week for coverage on the series, as the Raiders somehow let this reporter on the flight over to Vancouver. Trevor Redden and Marty Ring will have your calls on CKBI for each game.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW