If Game 23 was a sandwich, Anchorage's 1 goal would would be the wilted lettuce in the middle. Meanwhile, the Raiders brought the bread, the meat, some pickles and the cheese. Let's take a look at how it all went down.
Period 1
The first period wasn't a total disaster for the Armada. They had some good looks, out-shooting the Raiders 11-5. Nevertheless, the Raiders struck first and the Armada weren't able to hit back. The only goal in the period came at 5:51 when Raiders rookie Dominic Montgomery retrieved the puck from behind his own net, carried it out, and passed to Mr. Faceoffs in the neutral zone. Mr. Faceoffs sent it across the ice to Richard Metcalf Jr, who dropped it back to Mikael Choybuk. Choybuk skated the puck into the attacking zone looking for a shooting lane, but he couldn't find one. He sent it back to Metcalf Jr who slapped a one-timer right past Larry Atta, and just like that it was a 1-0 game.
The Armada had two power play opportunities, the first coming at 7:02 when Metcalf Jr took a roughing penalty. This would have been the perfect opportunity for Anchorage to even the score, but they just couldn't get anything going and the Raiders killed off the penalty without too much trouble. Their second opportunity came at 14:07 off of a hooking minor for Maximillian Egger, but no dice.
The Raiders' also had an unsuccessful power play attempt at 10:58 when Vegeta Muerto tried to get one back on Metcalf Jr and ended up with a roughing penalty of his own for his troubles.
Score at the end of the first period: 0 - 1
Period 2
The Armada out-shot their opponents again in period 2 with 17 shots to the Raiders' 10, but again it was the Raiders who scored first. At 1:16 in the period, Mikael Choybuk got his second point of the night with a beauty of a goal off of an assist from Maximilian Egger. Kristers Dzelme took a slashing penalty at 1:49, which could have turned the tide for the Armada, but their power play was another bust and less than a minute out of the box, Kristers Dzelme went five-hole on Atta at 4:45 to put the Raiders up by 3.
Anchorage finally got on the board at 5:27 with a quick wrister from Arsene Arsenich, but the goal didn't put much pep in their step, and on the power play at 19:55, the Raiders' Vince Rieper beat Atta on the blocker side and chased him from the net. Did a goalie swap help the Armada in period 3? Stay tuned to find out.
Score at the end of the second period: 1 - 4
Period 3
With Vasil Comescu in net, the Armada started the third period with renewed energy. Sadly, the damage was done. The Raiders led the shots in the third, holding the Armada to just 4 shots. Adding insult to injury, the Raiders' power play struck again with a goal from Kyle Corbett at 4:22. Rubbing salt in the wound, the Armada were less than thirty seconds away from killing off the Lockhart penalty for goaltender interference.
The Armada had two more power play chances, one at 9:11 and one at 17:00, but were unable to capitalize on either of them. They lost the game handily.
At the final buzzer, the Armada's power play had gone 0 on 7 attempts, while the Raiders went 2 for 3. The raiders would have won the game without their two power play goals, but had the Armada been able to score on even half of theirs, we might have been looking at a very different outcome.
Score at the end of the third period: 1 - 5
And now on to the 3 Stars of the Game!
The THIRD STAR of the game with 2 assists and 4 hits was Rainbow Dash.
The SECOND STAR with 31 saves from 32 shots was goaltender Nathan Cosco.
And the FIRST STAR of the game with 1 goal, 1 assist, and 2 hits was Mikael Choybuk.
The next matchup between these two clubs should be an interesting one.
Our ESPN Start of the night is... from the Halifax Raiders... the winger Rainbow Dash!
Rainbow Dash had an amazing night. Rainbow dash had an assist on the Raiders fourth goal to end the second period then on the Raiders fifth goal in the third period. Dash was a plus one. Rainbow only had one shot but Rainbow had four big hits and really set the tone physically. Rainbow Dash has a rare combination of scoring and physcality, almost as rare as there name. Rainbow Dash will look to continue his scoring streak if the Raiders will make it to the playoffs.
Comment One:
Three Stars of the Game
1 - Mikael Choybuk (HAL)
It was going to be a good night for the Raiders, and Choybuk helped start it off with an assist on Metcalf Jr.'s goal in the first period followed by his own goal at 1:16 to start off the second period - his only shot of the game making it count in the back of Anchorage's net. He also had two hits this game and not nearly as much ice time as the other Raiders.
2 - Nathan Cosco (HAL)
Cosco wasn't helped a lot by the Raiders this game, but luckily he doesn't always need help. The Raiders were outshot in the first and second period by the Armada and Cosco made 31 of 32 saves. Bless.
3 - Rainbow Dash (HAL)
Dash assisted off Vince Rieper's goal at the end of the second followed by Kyle Corbett's goal in the third period, showing he was still ready to go and didn't need that intermission. He also made the most hits on the Raiders, no penalty to take, and played the most minutes on the powerplay.
Comment Two:
One Hal of a Night
The Raiders started the season with a three-game losing streak followed by only one win in their last five games before this one. They were not ready to lose a fourth time in their sixth game, so even when they were out shot 11 to 5 in the first period and 17 to 10 in the second period, they were not about to give up anymore goals. Cosco made 31 saves of 32 shots on goal, the Raiders won the game 5-1, and they killed all seven penalties and worked their powerplay to get two attempts saved of the three attempts. It seemed by this game that they had a lot to prove and they did.
Comment Three:
If I Were an Armada Fan
If I were an Armada fan (which I am, but that's besides the point of this comment), I wouldn't let this loss bring me down completely. Even though this game completed a five-game losing streak, every team has their ups and downs, and at least this was at the start of the season to help the coaches know what to change up with the lines and practices. Their powerplay certainly needs help, as does their penalty kill, but they're also working with 9 rookies compared to Halifax's 4. There is great promise in players like Leo Lockhart who is already trusted to be on the first pairing, and they still out shot the Raiders 32-20, so it wasn't all for a lack of trying this game.
sigs by sulovilen, slothfacekilla, Flareon
avatar by prettyburn
Unsung Player - Kristof Kovacs - Center - Halifax Raiders
Tonight's unsung hero is Kristof Kovacs, Halifax's number one center. Raking up 2 assists for a total of 2 points, with a -1 rating, one might look at Kovacs' stats initially and simply dismiss the fact that he was not his usual offensive self. However, upon further inspection, Kovac was a wonderful defensive presence for the Raiders, being one of the reasons why the Armada were not able to capitalize on any of their 7 powerplays. With a 52.17 FOW% and a huge 7:08 played on the penalty kill, Kovacs was easily one of the unrecognized forces for the Raiders and their 5-1 win this evening.
---112 Words---
Comment Two
Rookie of the Game - Arsene Arsenich - Left Wing - Anchorage Armada
Arsenich scored the Armada's only goal of the game and ended up playing a couple of shifts both on the powerplay and on the penalty kill. While the Armada's guns were quiet during this game, Arsenich showed great hustle and instinct out against a dominant Raiders team. The 6'3", 205 pound Latvian two-way forward played a total of 12:32 on the Armada's 3rd Line, which was the Armada's more defensively responsible forward line for the game. Arsenich was selected 25th Overall in the S44 SMJHL Entry Draft in the Fourth Round by the Armada.
Nathan Cosco: Why? Because he simply outplayed the Anchorage Armada goalies. Larry Atta was pulled in this game after having an horrendous game and Vasil Comescu entered the game to finish it. Nathan Cosco was a huge reason why Halifax won this game in the first game because he face 12 more shots than the Anchorage goalies combined. Cosco almost managed to have a shutout with a 96.88 % Save percentage on 32 shots. Comescu was the best Armada goalie in that department with 80% on 5 shots. Because Comescu face that little shots he also was able to not allow a single rebound compared to Cosco with a rebound % of 19.35% of these 6 Rebounds 5 ended up in Armada possession earning him a bad rebound% of 83.33%
Thank you all for the amazing sigs & player cards
3. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 5 (Maximilian Wachter, Alexis Metzler) at 16:25
5. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 6 (Steven Stamkos Jr., Brynjar Tusk) at 19:48
8. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 7 (Brynjar Tusk, Alexis Metzler) at 13:55
9. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 8 (Anton Fedorov, Mikelis Grundmanis) at 15:12
10. Buffalo Stampede , Eduard Selich 9 (Dickie Pecker) at 19:43 (Empty Net)
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