A late power play goal helped the Edmonton Oil Kings take a 2-1 series lead over the Prince Albert Raiders with a 3-2 victory at Rogers Place on Tuesday night.
Raider interim head coach Ryan McDonald says Prince Albert needed to do more at defending inside against the Oil Kings.
“It was a game of fighting to get to the inside and defending hard inside the dots and fighting to get to those offensive net fronts and defending those defensive net fronts. A couple instances where we give them some opportunities and you got to be consistent in those areas.”
Riley Boychuk would get the Raiders on the board with a power play goal at the 5:34 mark of the first period. Justice Christensen and Brayden Dube provided the helpers.
Gavin Hodnett would even things up for Edmonton at the 14:49 mark with his first goal of the series on the power play. The Sawchyn brothers, Gracyn and Lukas picked up assists.
Marshall Finnie would give Edmonton the lead at the 18:34 mark with his first goal of the playoffs. Rylen Roersma and Parker Alcos had the helpers.
After a scoreless second period, Aiden Oiring would tie the game at the 7:10 mark of the third period with his second goal of the series. Tomas Mrsic and Lukas Dragicevic picked up the assists.
Ethan MacKenzie would give Edmonton the lead at the 16:15 mark of the third period with a power play goal. Hodnett and Gracyn Sawchyn picked up the assists.
The Raiders would push the game tying marker, but couldn’t solve Ethan Simcoe who made 18 saves in the victory. Max Hildebrand made 30 stops in the game for Prince Albert.
Going into Game 4 on Wednesday, the Raiders will be looking to tie the series at 2-2 when the series shifts back to Prince Albert for Game 5 on Friday.
McDonald says he expects Game 4 to be very similar to Game 3.
“It’s going to be another hard fought battle and getting to the inside and winning the net fronts. The sun is gonna come up tomorrow. For us, it’s making sure that we give our best effort.”
Puck drop for Game 4 is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Rogers Place in Edmonton.
