The Butler almost did it

Would you like a clue as to who won Friday’s WHL game?
It almost was the Butler with his glove in the arena.
The Kamloops Blazers overcame a 41-save performance by old friend Dustin
Butler and beat the Prince Albert Raiders 5-4 in a shootout before 4,461
fans at Interior Savings Centre.
“I knew he’d be jacked to come in here,” Kamloops centre Brock Nixon, who
scored the shootout winner, said of Butler. “That’s his attitude. I know he
wanted to stay here and it didn’t happen so he had a lot of fire coming in
here.”
That he did.
“I was ready,” said Butler, who set the Blazers’ single-season record for
shutouts (7) last season after being acquired from the Portland Winter
Hawks.
Still, Butler admitted to playing the winning goal rather poorly.
“I thought he was going to go high glove, and I stumbled a bit,” he said.
Instead, Nixon went low to the stick side.
“He doesn’t give you a whole lot,” said Nixon, who had two assists in real
time. In an earlier shootout Nixon said he noticed Butler was “pretty deep
in the net” on the first shot “so I knew I would be shooting and I found the
spot.”
Nixon’s goal was sandwiched between misses by forwards Juuso Puustinen and
C.J. Stretch.
Kamloops goaltender James Priestner, who was spotty in stopping 11 shots
through OT, redeemed himself in the shootout. He made a glove save on Matt
Robertson and poke-checked Justin Bernhardt before getting help from his
best friend, a post, on Devon LeBlanc.
“We left him in there to give him a chance to correct the wrongs,” Kamloops
head coach Greg Hawgood said of Priestner. “Hopefully that will carry on to
the next game.”
The Blazers led 1-0 after the first period, on an early goal by Puustinen,
marking just the seventh time in 30 games they have taken a lead into the
second period.
“We finally scored first and held that lead for a whole period. I think that
runs our record to 7-0 when that happens,” Nixon said.
Yes, it does, even if the Raiders came out in the second period and got
three straight goals — from Bernhardt, LeBlanc and Ryan McDonald.
The Blazers, though, stormed the P.A. crease like bumble bees and Stretch
finally cut into the deficit at 18:04 on a power play.
Thirty-eight seconds into the third period, Kamloops defenceman Mike
Gauthier, who spent 4 1/2 seasons with the Raiders, forged a tie with his
first goal since being acquired for defenceman Ryan White. Gauthier got the
puck on net from the right point and it somehow got through Butler.
“It was pretty emotional off the start,” Gauthier said, “but there’s no
friends on the ice.
“That goal will stick with me for awhile. That’s one of my bigger goals.”
Five minutes later, the Raiders regained their lead, Bernhardt scoring one
for the ages. He left three Blazers — Sasha Golin, Jordan Rowley and Ryan
Bender — strewn like broken matchsticks and went in to beat Priestner.
That lead lasted until Kamloops defenceman Darcy Huisman created a 2-on-1 by
jumping into the play. He redirected a centring pass from winger Brady Calla
for his first WHL goal.
“We had a tough time beating him,” Nixon said of Butler. “Give him a lot of
credit. He kept them in it when we had a lot of momentum. They scored timely
goals . . . they scored at the right time.
“Good on us to not get too frustrated. We found a way to win and that’s a
big start to this weekend.”
“The easy thing,” Hawgood said, “would have been to get frustrated. I give
(the Blazers) a lot of credit.”
The Blazers played without left-winger Ivan Rohac, their second-leading
scorer and perhaps their best offensive threat in recent games, because of
what Hawgood said was a “coach’s decision.”
Asked if it was for disciplinary reasons, Hawgood replied: “Somebody had to
come out for Dulle to play.”
Forward Kenton Dulle was back in the lineup after missing 10 games with a
lower abdominal injury. He has seven points in 19 games.
Rohac, who will be back tonight against the Tri-City Americans (21-7-1-0),
has 24 points in 29 games, including nine points in his last eight games.
The Blazers (15-13-1-1) conclude the weekend in Vancouver on Sunday against
the Giants (21-7-1-3).
JUST NOTES: Referees Saad Al-Jadir and Trevor Hanson gave the Raiders eight
of 14 minors. . . . The Raiders were 2-for-4 on the power play. The Blazers,
who were 1-for-6, are 6-for-38 on the PP since going 4-for-7 in a 6-4
victory over the visiting Everett Silvertips on Nov. 20. . . . White was a
force for the Raiders and likely received more ice time than any other
player on either team.