The Prince Albert Raiders jumped out to a 3-1 lead but couldn’t hold off the Saskatoon Blades in a 5-4 shootout loss at the Art Hauser Centre on Wednesday.
Dustin Willhoft and Ben Bowtell scored in the shootout for Saskatoon, while Blades goalie Taye Timmerman stopped Jonah Sivertson and Brock Cripps at the other end to get the win.
“I thought we played well as a team,” Raiders forward Connor Howe said. “We moved the puck really well. The bounces just didn’t come our way, but we battled hard.”
Prince Albert outshot Saskatoon 49-21, but struggled to beat Timmerman. The Blades netminder made several big stops to keep the Raiders from running away with the game. The list included a big pad save on a 2-on-0 in the third period. Timmerman also stopped a Ben Harvey penalty shot with 26 seconds left in overtime.
Penalties also played a big role. The Raiders scored on their lone powerplay opportunity, while the Blades went two-for-four with the man advantage.
The two Saskatoon powerplay goals came within 1:11 of each other, and helped the Blades overcome a 3-1 second period deficit.
“Just staying a little bit more disciplined, that’s all we really need to work on,” Howe said. “We moved the puck well and had some scoring chances. We just couldn’t bury it.”
Howe, Jonah Sivertson, Ben Harvey, and Knox Burton had the goals for Prince Albert, while Willhoft, Bowtell, Gavin Clark, and Jack Lavallee responded for Saskatoon.
Chase Kettles and Steele Bass combined to stop 17 shots for Prince Albert, while Timmerman and Ryley Budd made 44 saves in the Saskatoon goal.
Lavallee beat Bass five-hold to open the scoring roughly midway through the first period.
The Raiders tied it up less than two minutes later when Sivertson tipped in a Liam Myhre point shot with 7:44 to go. Prince Albert then took the lead on their only powerplay when Howe took a cross-ice pass and beat Budd high blocker side to make it 2-1.
The score remained 2-1 until the last five minutes of the second when the two clubs combined for four goals in less than four minutes.
Harvey put Prince Albert up 3-1 when he buried his own rebound during a scramble in front with 5:08 to play. Willhoft then converted on the powerplay after a tricky behind-the-back pass from Bowtell with 4:20 to go.
Botwell tied it with 3:09 to play on another powerplay, but Prince Albert retook the lead with 2:44 to go. Burton coverted a cross-ice pass from Owen Corkish and fired the puck past Timmerman’s outstretched glove.
Prince Albert outshot Saskatoon 18-8 in the third period, but the Blades got the only goal when Clark poked the puck into an open net during a goalmouth scramble.
The Raiders and Blades are back at in on Friday for their third of four pre-season meetings. Puck drop is 6 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.
