Raiders begin three-game road trip with loss in Medicine Hat
The Prince Albert Raiders came out to an early lead in Medicine Hat on Wednesday night but the Tigers responded with three-straight goals to come away with a 3-2 victory at the Canalta Centre. The match was the first of a Central Division road trip that will see the Raiders play three games in four nights.
“We played OK. I thought we played in spurts. The first period was good. The third period was good. I didn’t think much of the second period,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said.
“We got the lead, which was good, but we took too many penalties and they have the second-ranked power play in the league and that kind of bit us a little bit but we kept pushing.”
Tim Vanstone scored the first goal of the game, firing home a deflected Curtis Miske shot. The goal came shortly after the Raiders killed off their first penalty of the game – a hooking call on Miske. P.A. carried that 1-0 lead into intermission.
P.A.’s Ian Scott was in net for the first time in four games as the Raiders have recently been calling on backup goalie Nicholas Sanders. Scott faced 39 shots in the losing effort
The Tigers responded in the second period. First Mason Shaw beat Scott on the power play to tie score at the five-minute mark of the frame and near the end of the period Jordan Henderson notched his fourth goal of the year to give the home side the lead heading into the third.
Medicine Hat forward Zach Fischer scored from a narrow angle to add to his team’s lead in the opening minutes of the final period. As the game was nearing an end Habscheid pulled Scott to put an extra attacker on the ice and P.A.’s D-Jay Jerome found the back of the Tigers net after receiving the puck from a weaving Vojtech Budik. That’s the closest the Raiders would get, however, as the whistle sounded to bring an end to the match.
The Raiders are back on the ice on Friday night when they meet the Hurricanes in Lethbridge. Game time is 8 p.m.
Game Summary
Medicine Hat 3, Prince Albert 2
First Period
- Prince Albert, Vanstone 8 (Miske) 7:06
Second Period
- Medicine Hat, Shaw 21 (Gerlach, Rassell) 5:09 (pp)
- Medicine Hat, Henderson 4 (Shaw, MacPherson) 16:14
Third Period
- Medicine Hat, Fischer 27 (Butcher) 4:06
- Prince Albert, Jerome 6 (Budik) 17:34
Goalies: Prince Albert – Ian Scott, 36 saves (L, 7-26-2-0); Medicine Hat – Michael Bullion, 25 saves (W, 13-7-1-0).
Three Stars: 1. Mason Shaw; 2. Ian Scott; 3. Michael Bullion.