The Prince Albert Raiders were not going to let the sun set on their 2024-25 WHL season.
The Raiders picked up a 4-2 win in Game 5 at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday night to send the series back to Edmonton for Game 6 on Sunday afternoon.
“It was an emotional, exciting game.” Raider interim head coach Ryan McDonald said. “A great crowd tonight behind us right from the start. You get out and you see the nerves for the first couple of minutes and then we kind of settle into our game and start getting pucks behind and start using our feet to check and make plays quick.”
Raider defenceman Lukas Dragicevic echoed McDonald’s sentiment.
“It was huge. Obviously, we knew what was at stake. We talked about that in the room leading up to the game. We pushed, and we had a great team effort.”
Tomas Mrsic opened the scoring with his first goal of the series at the 6:17 mark. A backhand shot from the St. Louis Blues prospect fooled Ethan Simcoe and caught the Oil King netminder out of position. Lukas Dragicevic and Vojtech Vochvest assisted on the play.
Later in the first period, a scary moment took place in the corner. Tomas Mrsic delivered a reverse hit on Edmonton defenceman Blake Fiddler. The Oil King rearguard would fall backwards and his skate would clip Mrsic in the face. After being attended to by Raider trainer Duane “Puff” Bartley, Mrsic would leave the game and did not return. There was no update available on his status at the time of publishing.
Lukas Dragicevic would double the Prince Albert lead with a power play goal at the 16:58 mark. The Seattle Kraken prospect would execute a give-and-go play with Niall Crocker and wired a shot past Simcoe. Aiden Oiring had the secondary assist.
McDonald said the goal was important for the Raiders after losing Mrsic to injury.
“That’s been our mentality all year, the next man up. That’s a lot of credit to the guys in the room. They pick each other up, they rally around each other, and they dig in. Just a big time goal for us at a big time.”
Ethan MacKenzie would get Edmonton within one at the 11:59 mark of the second period with his second goal of the series. Adam Jecho and Gracyn Sawchyn assisted on the play.
Dragicevic would strike again at the 16:23 mark of the middle frame with his second goal of the hockey game. Off a faceoff, Dragicevic would walk in and wire a shot past Simcoe. Oiring had the lone assist.
Edmonton would respond just over two minutes later as Landon Hanson would strike for his second of the playoffs. Rylen Roersma and Blake Fiddler assisted on the play.
With just over a minute to go in the third period, Aiden Oiring would seal things for the Raiders with an empty net goal.
Max Hildebrand made 36 stops to earn the win for the Raiders. Ethan Simcoe made 22 saves for the Oil Kings.
The series shifts back to Edmonton for Game 6 on Sunday afternoon at Roger’s Place. Puck drops at 4 p.m.
