VALENCIA — Scoring the first goal in hockey is big.

How both teams respond to that first goal is bigger.

Butler got on the board first against rival Seneca Valley Monday night at the Ice Connection, only to see the Raiders control play for the balance of the first period and all of the second. The end result was a 4-1 SV victory.

“You always want to score first, but our guys knew there was a lot of hockey game left,” SV coach Anthony Raco said. “We had to stick to our plan, to be patient and let the game come to us, to not force things.

“Butler is very good at capitalizing on your mistakes.”

The Raiders (9-7) made few mistakes on this night.

Trevor Gilliland's 10th goal of the season — a wide-open wrist shot from the slot — gave the Golden Tornado (8-5-1) a 1-0 lead with 9:28 left in the first period. Seneca Valley's Chris Lipnicky had rung a shot off the goalpost less than three minutes into the game. Jared Hulbert did likewise only a minute after Gilliland scored.

Still, the Raiders did not get frustrated. And they began to dominate.

Lipnicky fired home a rebound with 1:50 left in the opening period to knot the game. Alex Crilley and Robert Sheils scored for SV in the second period. The Raiders out-shot Butler 14-6 in the second frame.

“They dominated us in that period,” Butler coach Patrick Hammonds said. “That was the difference tonight. The way we played in the second made us have to chase the game in the third.

“You never want to have to do that. It takes you out of your normal game.”

SV goaltender Dylan Sloat stopped 30 of 31 Tornado shots on the night. His biggest save was stopping Gilliland on a penalty shot with 13:26 left in the game.

“I've only faced maybe four or five penalty shots since I've been playing hockey,” Sloat said. “I wasn't familiar with (Gilliland's) tendencies, but I was watching him during the game and he seemed to like going low to the glove side.

“That's what I was ready for and that's where the puck came.”

Gilliland's penalty shot was his first in high school hockey.

“I was trying to shoot above his glove hand,” he said. “He made a nice save.”

Neither team scored on the power play. Seneca Valley had three power play opportunities, Butler five.

“We tightened up our penalty kill and I liked the way we were blocking shots tonight,” Raco said.

“That penalty shot was huge. If that goes in, they're within one, with momentuum and plenty of time left.”

Hammonds agreed.

“That could have been a game-changer for us,” Butler's coach said.

Tyler Murphy's 10th goal of the season ended the scoring with 7:57 remaining. Crilley had a goal and two assists for the Raiders, giving him 23 points on the season. Nick Raible and Shane Galis had two assists each.

Sloat entered the game with a 2.10 goals against average after rarely seeing ice time earlier this season.

“I've had a hot hand and I think they (coaches) are just riding that right now,” Sloat said.

Jonathan Fair and Chris Martin assisted on Gilliland's goal. Zach Schnur made 28 saves for Butler, which dropped its third straight game.

“Hockey is a long season and there are going to be ups and downs,” Hammonds said. “We'll snap out of this.”

The Tornado play North Allegheny in a makeup game tonight in Warrendale before traveling to Bethel Park Thursday. The Raiders host Canon McMillan Thursday at Warrendale.