Meunier shootout hero as Raiders pick up two points in Moose Jaw

Photo by Nick Pettigrew. Dimitri Fortin celebrates with teammates after earning a shootout win over his former team, the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Moose Jaw Events Centre on Friday night.

It took longer than sixty minutes, but the Prince Albert Raiders picked up two points with a 3-2 shootout win over the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday night.

Raider interim head coach Ryan McDonald says the Raiders were able to get what they came for.

“Coming in on the road, we wanted to come in and play a simple game. There were times where we wanted our decision making to be a little bit better. In the end, we got the two points that we came for.”

Owen Berge would break the seal on the scoreboard just 0:48 in with his eighth goal of the campaign. Ryder Ellis and Brayden Schuurman assisted on the play.

The Raiders would respond at the 10:53 mark on the power play as Lukas Dragicevic would lean into a slapshot from the point that beat Josh Banini for his seventh goal of the season. Tomas Mrsic and Aiden Oiring picked up the helpers on the play.

McDonald says Dragicevic has been everything the Raiders have expected since coming over in an offseason trade with the Tri-City Americans.

“Lukas has really rounded out his game. He’s a possession type of player and you can see offensively, he knows what to do with the puck and he really possesses it within the offensive zone and making sure that he can find his lanes and get pucks through and that first goal on the power play just speaks volumes on his shot and he has been advertised.”

Daxon Rudolph would give Prince Albert their first lead of the night at the 15:58 mark with his third goal of the season. Oiring and Luke Moroz assisted on the goal.

Moose Jaw tied the game at the 15:33 mark as Riley Thorpe would wire home his third goal of the season. Pavel McKenzie and Aiden Ziprick had the assists.

Regulation and overtime solved nothing, sending the team to a shootout. Aiden Oiring and Lukas Dragicevic scored for the Raiders in the first three rounds for Prince Albert. Brayden Schuurman and Pavel McKenzie scored for the Warriors, sending it to the sudden death portion.

After Dimitri Fortin stopped Landen McFadden, Owen Berge and Aiden Ziprick, Ty Meunier would score the Raiders in the sixth round of the shootout to secure the two points for Prince Albert.

With the win, Prince Albert moves up to fourth in the Eastern Conference standings ahead of tomorrow night’s meeting with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

After the slow start to the season, the Raiders were at the bottom of the Eastern Conference looking up. McDonald says the work to climb the standings hasn’t gone unnoticed in the dressing room, but the Raiders are still looking to climb higher.

“It just shows and gives credit to the hard work that these young men have put in over the last little while. For us, it’s the next game up mentality. We’re worried about that next one tomorrow against Brandon.” 

Dimitri Fortin made 28 stops for the Raiders while Josh Banini made 27 stops for the Warriors.

The Raiders return to action on Saturday night when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m.

sports@paherald.sk.ca

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