Harvey hot streak continues as Raiders roll over Rebels

The second half of the period never really left the ‘feeling out’ phase of the game thanks to some penalties. The Raiders killed off their only penalty of the night, then there was some 4-on-4, and a pair of roughing penalties to end the first period, and some solid goaltending at either end from Michal Orsulak for the Raiders and Mathew Kondro of the Rebels.

After 1: Raiders 0 – 1 Rebels, shots 10-5 Rebels

It took until 9:14 before the Raiders started their rally. The Rebels won a faceoff in their own zone and the puck went behind their net, but Jonah Sivertson snuck hustled in from the slot, stripped the defender, then fed the puck to the low slot where Ben Harvey fired the onetimer home for his fourth of the season.

Then at the 16:09 mark, Ben Harvey scored from the slot on a onetimer again. This time Jonah Sivertson started the play on the rush, driving the puck down low before fired a shot on net for a rebound. It came to Brock Cripps at the right point, who started a nice back-and-forth passing play to freeze a defender to set up Harvey’s onetimer in the high slot for his second of the night and fifth of the year.

After 2: Raiders 2 – 1 Rebels, shots 23-9 Raiders, 28-19 Raiders overall

At the 11:17 mark, another veteran Raider fans were waiting to cheer made his mark. Owen Corkish started the play with a shot on goal that was stopped, and the Rebels defence tried to swat it away (and take Corkish’s assist away). Jordan Murray settled the puck for Brandon Gorzynski outside of the pile, and Gorzynski fired his first of the season into the net.

Then came some fireworks at 14:07 when the gloves came off. After an already weird collision saw Ben Harvey haul down Rebels captain Beckett Hamilton without a call, Darius Hordal and Rebels forward Patrick Sopiarz got tangled up at centre. After the two got up, they each issued the challenge, and the gloves came off. Hordal landed a couple hard punches off the start but then fell, Sopariz landed some shots while Hordal was on the ground and Hordal was bloodied up a bit, but both men left the ice firing up their benches.

The Raiders kept the momentum on their side though and forced the Rebels to pull their goalie with less than four minutes left. Maddix McCagherty collected the puck in the Raiders zone and passed the puck up for Evan Smith on the right side of centre. Smith had a look at the goal but a couple defenders trying to get in his way, so instead Smith gave the puck to Alisher Sarkenov on the left side for the sure thing, and Sarkenov hit the empty net at 17:03 for his second of the season.

FINAL: Raiders 4 – 1 Rebels, shots 10-7 Raiders, 38-26 Raiders overall

For the first time this season, the Raiders powerplay was held off the scoresheet and went 0/4 on the night. That said, the Raiders also only gave up two powerplays the other way, and their penalty kill was a perfect 2/2.

After allowing a goal on the first shot of the game, Michal Orsulak had his best night of the season so far, stopping 25 straight shots on 26 total for a 0.961 save percentage.

The Raiders are on the road Thursday, and they’ll play in Lethbridge on Friday and Medicine Hat on Saturday.

nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by Nick Nielsen

Harvey hot streak continues as Raiders roll over Rebels

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