Hayes rallies the Raiders to 2-0 series lead over Blades

By Jeff D’Andrea, paNOW

Prince Albert Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid jokes every time that his big, stay-at-home defenceman Zack Hayes scores, that he’s the Raiders’ secret weapon.

But there was merit behind it as Hayes turned out to be the X-factor the Raiders needed to erase a 2-0 deficit and come back to defeat the Saskatoon Blades 3-2 Sunday at the Art Hauser Centre. That puts the Raiders in the driver’s seat, giving them a two-games-to-none lead over the Blades in the second round WHL playoff series.

Hayes scored with 28.1 seconds left in the second period to cut the Blades’ lead in half, and started a third-period rally from the Raiders.

“He’s the secret weapon, he’s the missile. Just a tremendous kid,” Habscheid said of Hayes. “He knows he’s not a goal scorer—he’s a defender. He’s the first one to say that. He blocks shots, plays physical and plays in a defensive role but I sure liked his offensive capabilities tonight. That was a huge goal, it really was. It got the crowd into it, 2-0 versus 2-1 going into the intermission is a big difference.”

Sunday at the Art Hauser Centre will be at least the ninth time Habscheid’s made that joke in the 225 total Western Hockey League games Hayes has played in.

“It was good. Gotta get the crowd goin’,” laughed Hayes, who finished second in plus-minus at +71 only to defence partner Brayden Pachal. “I think we just had to get that first one, then the rest of them would come.”

That set the table for the Raiders to rally in at the start of the third period, as they were able to go ahead within the first 2:11 of the final frame. Dante Hannoun tied it up after intense pressure.

Then Sean Montgomery scored the game-winning goal just 37 seconds afterwards. Montgomery now has both game-winning goals for the Raiders and four tallies in the two games to start of the series.

Kirby’s Adventure

Kirby Dach sure picked an opportune time to score his first goal against the Raiders. He skated through the Raiders to score a highlight reel goal in the first period, making it his first career goal against the Raiders in 18 games (16 regular season, two playoff games).

It was also a highlight reel goal as well, as he walked through the entire Raiders defence by himself and slid one underneath the pad of Raiders goaltender Ian Scott.

Dach has become P.A. public enemy number one. He’s often booed every time he touches the puck and his name is chanted in a sarcastic nature. But Dach said that rivalry treatment from the fans fuels him.

“I love playing these kind of games. I grew up in a small town and played in barns like this, it kind of reminds me a little bit of home,” said Dach, who hails from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta. “Every time you do something right, the crowd’s booing you and calling your name—you’re obviously doing something right. I take it as a compliment almost and keep playing my game.”

Off to the SaskTel Centre

The Raiders are in the driver’s seat now with a two-games-to-none lead in the best-of-seven series. But as the old cliché goes, ‘you’re not in trouble until you lose a game at home.’ The Blades haven’t done that yet, and have been one of the better teams in the league while playing on home ice. They were 23-6-5, which was fourth best in the WHL regular season. They were also 2-2 against the Raiders at the SaskTel Centre this year.

Game 3 will be on Tuesday and Game 4 will be on Wednesday at the SaskTel Centre, and Blades head coach Mitch Love hopes his side can equalize the series at home.

“We’ve played some good hockey at home this year and it’s going to be an energetic building with both our fans and their fans,” Blades head coach Mitch Love said. “Just like P.A. won their home games, we’re going to have to try and win our home games. We’ll see what happens after that.”

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Blades, Kirby Dach (unassisted), 8:56

Second Period

2-0, Blades, Eric Florchuk from Dawson Davidson and Kyle Crnkovic (power play), 4:35

2-1, Raiders, Zack Hayes from Aliaksei Protas and Brayden Pachal, 19:31

Third Period

2-2, Raiders, Dante Hannoun from Max Martin, 1:34