Raiders fall 3-1 to Blades; will host rematch on Saturday night
Braylon Shmyr scored the game-winning goal and added an assist to lead the Saskatoon Blades to a 3-1 victory over the Prince Albert Raiders at the SaskTel Centre on Friday night.
Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid called the effort “average at best.”
“I thought we got out-battled tonight and that was a little bit disappointing,” he said.
“They were quicker to loose pucks, they won more battles than we did and they protected the front of their net better than we had urgency to get there.”
The game was scoreless through the first period of play, with P.A. leading the shot count 8-6 after 20 minutes. It took until the half-way point of the second for the Blades to open scoring, with Josh Paterson netting his 14th goal of the year.
A few minutes later Curtis Miske responded for the Raiders to tie the score, but only 37 seconds would elapse before the Blades restored the lead thanks to a power play marker from Saskatoon’s Shmyr. After 40 minutes of play the Blades led 2-1.
In the final frame, Blades defenceman Libor Hajek put the game out of the Raiders’ reach with five minutes remaining in regulation. Blades goalie Logan Flodell earned First Star honours in the match, stopping 29 of 30 shots and blanking the Raiders on six power play attempts in the win.
The teams are back in action on Saturday night, but this time the Raiders will have home ice. P.A. and Saskatoon will face off at the Art Hauser Centre starting at 7 p.m.
Game Summary
Saskatoon 3, Prince Albert 1
First Period
No scoring
Second Period
- Saskatoon, Paterson 14 (Shynkaruk, Shmyr) 10:41
- Prince Albert, Miske 16 (Kadlec, Pachal) 14:26
- Saskatoon, Shmyr 28 (McCarty, Shynkaruk) 15:03 (pp)
Third Period
- Saskatoon, Hajek 4 (Sayers, Christensen) 15:19
Goalies: Prince Albert – Ian Scott, 20 saves (L, 8-28-3-0); Saskatoon – Logan Flodell, 29 saves (W, 18-17-3-0).
Three Stars: 1. Logan Flodell; 2. Braylon Shmyr; 3. Curtis Miske.
