The Prince Albert Raiders only trailed for 31 seconds in Lethbridge on Wednesday night, falling 5-3 to the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
Raider interim head coach Ryan McDonald
“We get the start we wanted and we know they’re a team that plays fast, they play heavy and they like to really stretch you out in the O zone and the neutral zone. We thought our guys did a really good job of stopping their rush with our neutral zone forecheck in the first couple of periods and we give them some opportunities and they’re a good team. We got to make sure that our slot coverage is tightened up and you protect those hard areas and we give them an opportunity so that they’re going to capitalize.”
The visiting Raiders would open the scoring at the 12:31 mark of the opening frame as Riley Boychuk would wire home his 13th goal of the season from the slot. Ty Meunier and Rilen Kovacevic picked up the helpers.
Brayden Dube would double the Prince Albert lead with his 28th goal of the season at the 17:41 mark of the opening frame. The 19-year-old would use his elite skating speed to blow past the Lethbridge defence and beat Jackson Unger with a backhand move. Daxon Rudolph would pick up the lone assist.
Lethbridge would get on the board at the 18:10 mark as Leo Braillard would find a loose puck in his skates and slide it past Max Hildebrand for his 25th goal of the season. Miguel Marques and Carsen Adair were credited with assists on the play.
Shots favoured Lethbridge 14-8 in the first period.
A 5-on-3 power play goal would tie the game for the Hurricanes at the 2:48 mark of the middle frame as Logan Wormald would bury his 30th goal of the season. Brayden Edwards and Brayden Yager would assist on the play.
Aiden Oiring’s 25th goal of the season would give the Raiders the lead at the 6:45 mark as he would tap a puck into a wide open net. Tomas Mrsic and Lukas Dragicevic assisted on the play.
Kooper Gizowski would draw Lethbridge even again at the 10:51 mark with his 14th goal of the season burying a rebound from just outside the crease. Edwards and Logan McCutcheon provided the helpers.
“It’s a game of momentum and they’re a team who forechecks hard.” McDonald explained. “You need to simplify and move pucks quickly and efficiently and get playing north as fast as you can. For the most part, I thought our guys did a good job as we continue to get pucks north and play on the move.”
After the Raiders failed to clear from their own zone, Gizowski would give Lethbridge the lead with his 15th goal of the season at the 19:29 mark of the third period. Wormald had the assists.
McCutcheon would ice the game with an empty net goal just over 16 seconds later.
Max Hildebrand made 32 saves for the Raiders in the winning effort including a highlight reel glove save on Luke Cozens in the second period.
“Max was awesome.” McDonald said. “He just made some tremendous ten bell saves from the slot and that one showstopper glove save off the backside. He’s a true competitor and he competes every single night.”
Jackson Unger made 16 stops for Lethbridge.
The Raiders return to action on Friday night when they travel to Red Deer to take on the Rebels. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
