The Prince Albert Raiders are finding ways to win in different ways, extending their point streak to eight with a 3-2 win over the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday night.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says it was a win that Prince Albert was able to grind out.
“Getting the points under different conditions, it’s good for us. In Swift Current, we didn’t have the lead, we get the lead, we lose the lead and we get the lead again. Tonight was just a dog fight right from start to finish. You gotta win those games, but we’re learning to win different ways and we’re rising with the occasion.”
Fans were barely settled into their seats at the Art Hauser Centre when the Raiders opened the scoring just 0:29 in. A pretty passing play led to an easy finish for Brayden Dube, who made no mistake for his 10th goal of the season. Daxon Rudolph and Aiden Oiring assisted on the play.
The Lethbridge power play would knot things up at the 13:12 mark as Brayden Edwards would strike for his 13th goal of the campaign. Miguel Marques and Noah Chadwick provided the helpers.
Former Raider Hayden Pakkala would give Lethbridge the lead at the 11:42 mark of the middle frame with his fourth goal of the campaign. Trae Johnson and Will Sharpe provided the helpers.
On a two-on-one, Brayden Dube would pull Prince Albert even with his second of the contest and 11th of the season. The 19-year-old chose to keep the puck and shoot it, beating Lethbridge netminder Koen Cleaver clean with a wrist shot. Aiden Oiring had the lone assist.
Truitt says Dube has improved tremendously since joining the Raiders as part of the Nolan Allan deal in 2022.
“He’s so much more composed with the puck than what he has been in the past. He’s handling the puck with confidence. He’s seeing holes, but he’s using his speed to get to the holes. He’s very difficult to defend when he’s got his speed going, but now he’s got things going with his speed and with his shot and a little bit of deception. That line’s tough to defend. With his speed, it’s even tougher.”
A point shot from Justice Christensen would sneak through traffic to give the Raiders the lead at the 19:14 mark with his fourth goal of the season. Tomas Mrsic assisted on the play.
The Hurricanes would press for the equalizer, but Dimitri Fortin made 26 stops to earn his victory as a Prince Albert Raider. He was acquired from Moose Jaw in a trade on Wednesday.
Truitt says Fortin came as advertised in his first appearance with the team.
“He battles, he’s athletic and we knew that. It really was shown tonight. He was sharp, he was square to a lot of the pucks that he saw, had to work within some traffic because that’s what Lethbridge does, but he battled through it and came up with a couple of key saves for us.”
In a post game interview, Fortin says he was glad to be able to get his first win with Prince Albert out of the way.
“It feels good. I feel like this is a great team, more opportunities and all that. Tonight, getting the first win in my first game feels good.”
Entering play, Hildebrand had played 20 games for the Raiders this season who have only played 22 games so far this season.
Truitt says the addition of Fortin will allow the Raiders to give Hildebrand adequate rest to keep him sharp for later in the season.
“You don’t have to ride Max (Hildebrand) as much. There’s no doubt about that. All you ask for is giving your chance to win a game, and no matter who’s in the net, and to have that veteran guy in there that’s gone all the way to the Memorial Cup last year, he went through the grind. He knows what to expect out of this and it’s going to help our team. He’s going to be a big part of this, which is great. Now we know that we can give Max some rest when he needs it.”
Prince Albert returns to action on Tuesday night when they take on the Red Deer Rebels at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
