The Everett Silvertips dropped the third game of their six-game East Division road trip to the sweltering hot Prince Albert Raiders, 3-0, on Tuesday. Brett Leason potted a pair of goals and goatlender Scott recorded his second shutout of the game. Dustin Wolf stopped 27 shots for Everett. The Silvertips are 7-4-0-0 on the season and 1-2 on the road trip. You can read the write-up from the desk, here.
Here are three takeaways:
*Shrug* Possibly the best part about being on the losing end of a 3-0 result for the Silvertips is that there isn’t much to take away.
Prince Albert has the makings of a juggernaut and, while it’s early, appears poised to make a run at a Memorial Cup appearance. The Raiders boast the highest scoring offense and most effective penalty kill in the WHL. Combined with the highest point scorer (Leason, 30 points) and stingiest goaltender (Scott, 1.50 goals allowed average). There’s a reason why only one team — Red Deer — has been able to top Prince Albert and the Raiders are ranked No. 1 in the latest Canadian Hockey League power rankings.
The Leason experience: Possibly the leader in the clubhouse for the “story of the season” — if such a thing exists, is Brett Leason lighting the WHL on fire. As alluded to above, the 19-year-old forward leads the WHL with 30 points, which is close to surpassing his career-high for points in a season at 32 — set with the Raiders last season.
A little background on Leason: The Calgary, Alberta native was drafted by Tri-City and was named the club’s Rookie of the Year in 2016-2017. But Leason never broke out with the Americans, chipping in 19 points in 80 games with Tri-City before being dealt to Prince Albert for a third-round bantam pick — a decent, but not earth shattering return.
Leason has been draft eligible for two season, but has not been selected in the NHL Draft. I’ve seen him be projected as a potential second-rounder in the 2019 Draft in some places due to his breakout season.
It’s really an awesome story.
Second period woes: If there’s any particular period Everett would like to do-over from Tuesday’s loss, the second might be the one.
The Silvertips outshot the Raiders 15-to-six in the second period and failed to bury any chances. Especially considering how well Wolf played between the pipes, Everett’s offense needs to do a better job of putting pressure on opposing teams, especially of Prince Albert’s calibre. So far, Everett has failed to do that and it has cost them in big games.
