Raiders defenceman Zack Hayes falls on Giants forward Jadon Joseph during a puck battle in the corner. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

One Giant leap

Giants power play the difference as they take Game 1 from the Raiders

May 3, 2019 | 10:48 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders learned the same important lesson twice on Friday, don’t take penalties against the Vancouver Giants.

The Giants got a pair of two-goal spurts thanks to power plays and momentum derived off to them to win 5-4 at the Art Hauser Centre Friday and take a 1-0 lead in the 2019 Rogers WHL Championship series.

The Giants managed to go 2-4 on the power play, and added two other goals followed quickly afterwards against a Raiders team that had the most dominant penalty kill in the WHL through the regular season,.

The Raiders finished first with an 89 per cent kill rate and 23 shorthanded goals, but the Giants’ power play has been striking at an alarming rate of 38.3 per cent this postseason.

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Just 3:56 into the game, the Raiders found themselves on an extended 5-on-3 penalty kill situation. Defenceman Dylan Plouffe scored just 24 seconds into the two man advantage, and Dawson Holt scored off the end boards shortly after the Raiders were back to even strength to take an early 2-0 advantage.

“I liked our penalty kill, it was fine, but I thought our discipline sometimes—you know—if you get marginal penalties, that’s one thing. But there’s a few that were no-brainers,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “Especially in the first, those two penalties. Guys are emotional and they want to do the right thing. They want to win the game and they want to play hard, but sometimes the emotion gets away from you and you take some penalties.”

The Raiders were then able to fight back into the game at tie it up at 3-3, but Yannik Valenti scored on a power play with 30.9 seconds left in the second period. Then 14.4 seconds later, Holt got his second of the game to give the Giants a 5-3 lead after two periods.

“[The power play] has given us momentum, that’s the key,” Giants head coach Michael Dyck said. “When they tied up on 3-3 and we got that opportunity, it was a big goal for us and got us back in the hockey game. That’s one thing we’ve really focused on.”

Holt is one of two players on the Giants from Saskatchewan, hailing from Saskatoon. He scored twice in the game in front of a big pack of friends and family who managed to somehow get their hands on some tickets.

“It’s super cool. Obviously, I had a lot of family and friends here. To be able to get the win out there in front of them was obviously super special,” Holt said.

His pair of goals gives Holt seven in 16 playoff games. That actually exceeds Holt’s regular season total, as he managed six goals through 53 games.

Neither team will have too much time to think about Game 2, as it will be on Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre.

Raiders captain Brayden Pachal has seen his team rebound from disappointing performances and results this postseason, and said there are positives to build on from Friday’s defeat.

“I think it was a game that we played pretty good for the most part,” Pachal said. “Obviously there are some things that we can clean up, but we liked our game tonight. We just got to move onto tomorrow.”

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Giants, Dylan Plouffe from Bowen Byram and Milos Roman (5-on-3 power play), 4:20

2-0, Giants, Dawson Holt from Jared Dymtriw and Owen Hardy, 6:06

Second Period

2-1, Raiders, Brett Leason from Max Martin and Dante Hannoun (power play), 3:20

3-1, Giants, Jared Dmytriw from Bowen Byram and Alex Kannok Leipert, 5:13

3-2, Raiders, Noah Gregor from Parker Kelly and Zack Hayes, 6:17

3-3, Raiders, Dante Hannoun from Parker Kelly, 16:45

4-3, Giants, Yannik Valenti from Jared Dmytriw and Owen Hardy (power play), 19:29

5-3, Giants, Dawson Holt from Jared Dmytriw and Owen Hardy, 19:43

Third Period

5-4, Raiders, Jeremy Masella from Aliaksei Protas, 2:50

Looking ahead

Game 2 will be back in the packed Art Hauser Centre on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) are scheduled at the Langley Events Centre for next Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. If the series isn’t decided by then, Games 6 and 7 on May 12 and May 13.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW