For the second consecutive night, the Prince Albert Raiders fell on home ice. The Raiders suffered a 3-1 setback at the hands of the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says Prince Albert didn’t play with the determination needed for two points.
“We didn’t play hard enough. Our guys have to understand that winning comes at a price. It means, you know, tempo. It means competing hard and winning board battles and shutting teams down and doing all the little things. The game within the game says that it’s going to hurt sometimes. And our guys have to accept that and we’ve got to be able to do it, but we didn’t do it tonight.
The visiting Wheat Kings would take a two goal lead after forty minutes.
Jayden Wiens would open the scoring with his seventh goal of the season at the 3:03 mark of the second period. Nolan Flamand and Charlie Elick provided the helpers on the play.
Wiens would double the lead for Brandon with his second goal of the game coming on the power play at the 16:36 mark. Flamand and Caleb Hadland assisted on the play.
After a defensive zone turnover by Brandon, the Raiders would break into the score column in the third period.
Niall Crocker would bring the Raiders within one with his eighth goal of the season at the 6:50 mark. Hayden Pakkala and Sloan Stanick assisted on the play.
It wouldn’t take long for Brandon to respond as Dominik Petr would find twine just over a minute later for his ninth of the season to restore the two goal Wheat King advantage. Matteo Michels and Kayden Sahdra-Kang assisted on the play.
Ethan Eskit made 25 saves in the victory for Brandon. Chase Coward turned aside 28 shots for Prince Albert.
The game was Brandon’s fourth in the last five days, all of which were played on the road. Truitt says the Wheat Kings came out strong from puck drop, and he was disappointed Prince Albert didn’t match them.
“This is a team that’s played four in five with travel. They came out as a desperate club. They wanted to end off the road trip the right way. We were playing last night, but we’re here. You’ve got to put your body on the line sometimes to compete hard. It was disappointing that we didn’t execute that part of the game.“
The Raiders kick off a three-in-three road trip in Swift Current on Friday night. Pucks drop is at 7 p.m.
