The Prince Albert Raiders stayed close for two periods, but couldn’t keep up with the Regina Pats in the second game of their season-opening home-and-home series.
Ozzy Wiesblatt and Reece Vitelli scored for the Raiders, while Connor Bedard scored his third of the season for the Pats, as Regina downed Prince Albert 5-2 at the Brandt Centre.
“The guys tried,” coach Marc Habscheid said after the game. “That’s all you can ask—that you play together and you try. I thought our guys did that for the most part, but it’s just the way it is.”
The Raiders entered the game looking to avenge Friday’s 3-1 loss in Prince Albert, but it was the hometown Pats who opened the scoring. Sloan Stanick tucked a rebound past Raider netminder Carter Serhyenko roughly six minutes into the first period to make it 1-0.
The Raiders responded with a power play goal from Ozzy Wiesblatt at 12:21 when he fired a shot over Pat goaltender Matthew Kieper’s shoulder at 12:24.
The Pats regained the lead when Cole Carrier beat Serhyenko with a backhand at 7:54 of the second, but Vitelli tied it up on a two-on-one just over five minutes later.
Wiesblatt and Vitelli both made their regular season debuts on Saturday after returning from NHL camps, and Habscheid was happy to have both back in the lineup.
“You can see the skill level that Wiesblatt and Vitelli have right now,” he said. “It’s pretty evident.”
The Raiders almost took the lead roughly a minute later when Vitelli sent Evan Herman in on a breakaway, but the Raider forward failed to beat Kieper on the backhand. The Pats stormed back up the ice for the eventual game-winner: a cross-crease pass from Stanislav Svozil to Stanick for his second of the afternoon.
The Pats added to their lead in the opening minute of the third period on Zack Stringer’s power play goal. Connor Bedard added some insurance on a beautiful backhand into the top corner while falling to the ice.
The Pats outshot the Raiders 11-7 in the third period, and 34-21 overall. The Raiders struggled on the power play, converting just one of seven chances, while the Pats scored on two of four.
“We’re in a transition right now,” Habscheid said.
“There’s no easy way to say it. Patience is a virtue right now.”
Carter Serhyenko made 29 saves in a losing cause for Prince Albert. Matthew Kieper had 19 stops for Regina.
The Raiders are off until Friday when they begin a two-game Manitoba road trip. They’re face the Wheat Kings in Brandon on Oct. 8, followed by a date with the Ice in Winnipeg on Oct. 9.