The song in Saskatoon is “Go Raiders Go!”

Prince Albert set for sweep, sweep series victory over Blades

The Raiders enjoy the first of two goals from Braeden Cootes (#34).

It was fitting that “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers was playing at game’s end at the SaskTel Centre.

With how the host Saskatoon Blades had been fairing in their WHL Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against their archrivals the Prince Albert Raiders, the iconic country song might have been foreshadowing to the Saskatoon side that it was time to “know when to fold ’em.”

On Tuesday, the Raiders rolled to a 4-0 victory over the host Blades while also holding a 41-23 edge in shots on goal in Game 3 of the best-of-seven set played before 6,522 spectators. With the win, the Raiders take a 3-0 lead in the series where they have outscored the Blades 13-1 and held a 120-55 advantage in shots on goal. Prince Albert can close out the series in Game 4 on Wednesday, which is set for 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

Braeden Cootes had a pair of goals and was a plus-two on Tuesday.

Dating back to the regular season, the Raiders have only given up one goal against the Blades in the last five head-to-head meetings between the two sides.

The last time the Blades scored an even-strength goal against the Raiders came back during a regular season clash on February 14 at the storied and historic Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert. 

In that contest, Blades captain Tyler Parr scored at the 7:42 mark of the second period to put the Blades up 4-2 in that game. The Raiders would rally back and take that contest 5-4 after a tiebreaking shootout.

The Raiders faithful influtrated the SaskTel Centre on Tuesday.

The Raiders have won seven straight head-to-head games against the Blades including action in both the regular season and post-season. The Blades last victory over the Raiders came back on January 31 with a 4-0 triumph at the Hauser, where Blades star netminder Evan Gardner made 36 saves to post the shutout.

In the three post-season meetings between these two clubs, Gardner, who has a signed NHL entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, has easily been the Blades best player posting a .907 save percentage. However, he can’t go out and score goals for his squad, and it becomes impossible to win hockey games if the skaters in front of the goalie don’t score any goals.

Blades G Evan Gardner pins Raiders LW Ben Harvey.

Gardner was great again on Tuesday. He turned away 37-of-40 shots to take the setback in goal for the Blades.

The Raiders final tally was an empty-net goal that was short-handed by 19-year-old centre Evan Smith with 30.3 seconds remaining in the third period.

The Blades came out to a good introduction and had some great support from their fans. They managed to get the first shot on goal of the contest.

Then at the 3:19 mark of the opening frame, Raiders star 20-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube directed a shot-pass from the right corner of the Saskatoon zone to the crease of the Saskatoon net. Star linemate Brandon Gorzynski deflected home the puck to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead off their first shot on net.

Evan Gardner makes one of his 37 saves for the Blades.

That tally seemed to suck the enthusiasm of the Blades faithful out of the building.

The sizable contingent that came down from Prince Albert to support the Raiders was just getting started when it came to rocking all night. They did their best to turn the SaskTel Center into a home away from home for the Raiders.

The Raiders carried play through the rest of the first holding a 14-6 edge in shots on goal. The visitors also had a pair of power plays after their goal in the first 20 minutes, but Gardner proceeded to keep his team in the game.

The opening six minutes of the second period became the Braeden Cootes show. Just 64 seconds into the second, Raiders standout import rookie left-winger Alisher Sarkenov sprung Cootes into the Saskatoon zone on a breakaway. Cootes snuck a shot sick side through the right arm of Gardner to push the Raiders lead out to 2-0.

Michal Orsulak makes one of his 23 saves in his shutout win.

Just 4:42 later, Raiders standout 19-year-old import rookie defenceman Matyas Man pushed the puck up to Cootes allowing the skilled centre to break into the Saskatoon zone down the right wing. The Sherwood Park, Alta., product, who turned 19-years-old in February, deked wide around a Blades defenceman and from a sharp angle to the right of the Saskatoon goal, he fired home a shot to the top right corner of the net to make the Raiders advantage sit at 3-0.

Actually, Cootes was so good for the entire night that fans of the Vancouver Canucks will be hoping the centre will start next season on the NHL club’s main roster. Cootes has a signed entry-level contract with the Canucks.

The Blades proceeded to get a pair of power plays, and Blades star import right-winger David Lewandowski rang a shot off the post of the Prince Albert net near the end of the second power play.

Brandon Gorzynski scored the Raiders first goal on Tuesday.

With less than two minutes to play in the frame, Lewandowski had another big chance to hit the scoreboard, but Raiders import star rookie netminder Michal Orsulak pulled out a sweet glove stop to rob the skilled Blades forward.

Early in the third, Orsulak robbed Blades import left-winger Elias Pul with a left pad stop on a backhand shot. After that, it felt like the Blades were trying to work their way through quicksand to get back into the contest.

They ended up with a power-play chance shortly after Pul was stoned on his scoring chance when Raiders defenceman Linden Burrett was given a kneeing minor for a hit on Blades 17-year-old centre Ben Bowtell. Bowtell left the contest and didn’t return.

Brayden Dube had an assist on the Raiders first goal on Tuesday.

The Blades power play continued to be ineffective when it came to getting on the scoreboard.

That set the stage for Smith’s short-handed empty-net goal to close the proceedings on Tuesday.

Orsulak stopped all 23 shots he faced for his third shutout win of the post-season and second against the Blades in the WHL Playoffs. In the post-season series against the Blades, Orsulak has a 0.33 goals against average and a .982 save percentage.

Going into this rivalry series, the Raiders were the favourites.

They finished first in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and second overall in the league with a 52-10-5-1 record during the regular season. They were rated fourth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. 

Evan Smith (#21) reacts to his empty-net short-handed goal.

In the first round of the playoffs, Prince Albert eliminated the Red Deer Rebels, who were eighth in the Eastern Conference, in five games.

The Blades were sixth in the Eastern Conference and placed 10^th in the overall regular season standings with a 34-27-5-2 mark. In the first round of the playoffs, they upset the Edmonton Oil Kings, who were third in the Eastern Conference and fifth overall in the WHL, in seven games taking Game 7 by a 3-2 score in overtime. 

In the seven games against the Oil Kings, the Blades played their best hockey of the 2025-26 campaign.

Before the playoffs started, expectations were high that the Raiders would face the defending WHL champion Medicine Hat Tigers in a heavyweight showdown in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship Series. 

The Raiders and Blades still engaged in a handful of scrums.

The Tigers finished second overall in the WHL’s Eastern Conference and third in the league’s overall standings at 50-10-5-3. They were rated fifth in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings.

They lead the other best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal Series 3-0 against the Calgary Hitmen. Medicine Hat will try to close that series out in Game 4 on Wednesday in Calgary.

At the moment in the series between the Raiders and Blades, only the most optimistic of Blades fans would still hold belief that their team will keep their campaign alive at the conclusion of Game 4 on Wednesday. The thought process would be that the Raiders seven game winning streak in head-to-head contests between both sides including action in the regular season and post-season has to end at some time.

The Raiders begin celebrating their win on Tuesday.

For now, it is hard to imagine any outcome on Wednesday that doesn’t see a celebration amongst the Raiders faithful that will again be at the SaskTel Centre when Game 4 comes to a close.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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