Great Scott shuts the door as Raiders take first of Conference Finals over Oil Kings

And after the game, Scott had even less. He a big smile on his face as he pretended to take a photo with his phone of teammate Ozzy Wiesblatt in a media scrum.

“I’m just messing with him,” Scott said.

In his crease, Scott was counted on the most in the third period late with the Oil Kings chasing the equalizer.

“I don’t think it was our best game, but it’s playoffs,” Scott said. “You’ve got to find a way to win and buckle down in tight games like that.”

According to Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid, it was Scott’s performance that really helped the Raiders to victory.

“He’s a premier goalie. Sometimes when you don’t have your A-game, you need your goalie. He did that for us tonight,” Habscheid said. “He made some key stops and that’s what it’s all about. It’s a team game. Some games he’s not having his game and we need to get five or six. Tonight was his turn, and he helped us out a lot.”

Scott only needed one goal’s worth of support, and that came off the stick of the rookie he was “messing with” after the game in Ozzy Wiesblatt… well, sort of.

Racing down the ice on a 2-on-2, Wiesblatt went wide under the attention of Oil Kings defender Conner McDonald. He centered it in front, and it hit off the stick of Oil Kings D-man Wyatt McLeod and into the net.

Cue crazy train because Ozzy Wiesblatt just scored as his feed deflects off of EOK Wyatt McLeod and in. It's Wiesblatt's first since the Red Deer round and the first goal of the series. 1-0 Raiders, 1:48 into second period pic.twitter.com/4Ftp4iLy4v

— Jeff D'Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) April 20, 2019

“We’ve been barking on that in practice, just get as many pucks on net as we can. Luckily it went in,” Wiesblatt said.

McLeod was occupied with tying up the stick of Raiders forward Spencer Moe before the puck found its way in front of the net.

“It was a 2-on-2. Conner did a good job playing his guy and I just lost track of it—in off my stick,” McLeod said. “Tough bounce on that one.”

That deflection turned out to be the only goal of the game. The Oil Kings for a moment thought they had a goal in the first period, when a Josh Williams shot snuck behind Scott, but he was able to snow-angel and keep it out. The play went under a brief video-review and was ruled as no goal.

Josh Williams' shot sneaks behind Ian Scott but it doesn't cross the goal line. Play went under review and ruled no goal. pic.twitter.com/i6xkXo5B1v

— Jeff D'Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) April 20, 2019

There wasn’t a whole lot the Oil Kings were upset about after the game, outside of not scoring a goal.

“I liked the game, I liked the way we played,” Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer said. “This is the first time [with] the atmosphere that we faced all playoffs is this type of building, and I thought our guys handled it quite well.

“We talked about it during the week of what it was like. You get a smaller community like here with the fans, this is what they get. It’s exciting and I thought our guys fed off it.”

Scoring Summary

First Period

No scoring.

Second Period

1-0, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Brayden Pachal, 1:48

Third Period

No scoring.

How they lined up

In the playoffs, it isn’t required for teams to show their line combinations. So here’s how the Raiders lined up on Friday to start the series. Justin Nachbaur did not play, as he served his second of a two-game suspension. Cole Fonstad came back into the lineup after a two-game absence to injury.

Forwards

Aliaksei Protas, Sean Montgomery, Brett Leason

Parker Kelly, Dante Hannoun, Noah Gregor

Cole Fonstad, Spencer Moe, Ozzy Wiesblatt

Jakob Brook, Eric Pearce, Loeden Schaufler

Defence

Sergei Sapego, Max Martin

Zack Hayes, Brayden Pachal

Kaiden Guhle, Jeremy Massella

Goaltender

Ian Scott

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And here’s how the Oil Kings countered.

Forwards

Jake Neighbours, Andrew Fyten, David Kope

Trey Fix-Wolansky, Vince Loschiavo, Quinn Benjafield

Vladimir Alistrov, Andrei Pavlenko, Scott Atkinson

Zach Russell, Liam Keeler, Josh Williams

Wyatt McLeod, Conner McDonald

Defence

Matthew Robertson, Will Warm

Ethan Cap, Parker Gavlas

Goaltender

Dylan Myskiw

Game 2

Both teams will stick around Prince Albert and battle again for Game 2 on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre.

Then both teams will head over to Edmonton to play at Rogers Place Tuesday and Wednesday. All of the first four games of the series are at 7 p.m.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW

by Jeff D'Andrea

Great Scott shuts the door as Raiders take first of Conference Finals over Oil Kings

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