It was a quantity of penalties that turned out to be the downfall of the Prince Albert Raiders as they fell 6-4 to the Winnipeg ICE at Wayne Fleming Arena on Saturday night.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says that Prince Albert’s discipline was not where it needed to be.
“It was kind of a back and forth affair. They would score, then we would get it close and then in the third period, we came all the way back to tie that thing up. The difference is the penalties. Taking penalties at the wrong time and the wrong quality of penalties and that’s the difference here tonight.”
Winnipeg would open the scoring just over three minutes in as Arizona Coyotes prospect Conor Geekie beat Hildebrand for his 14th of the season.
Brayden Dube would answer for the Raiders at the 14:17 mark scoring his first in a Prince Albert uniform after being acquired from the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Nolan Allan trade.
Truitt says Dube has really found some chemistry alongside 16-year-olds Ryder Ritchie and Cole Peardon since his arrival in Prince Albert.
“He’s catching on with things. Peardon, him and Ritchie have really found some chemistry with their skill and their speed. They compliment each other very well and they’re having a lot of positive shifts. It’s coming, they’re having some success. He certainly helps that line with his skillset.”
However, less than twenty seconds later the ICE would capitalize off a Raider turnover as Zach Benson would snipe his 15th of the season to restore the Winnipeg lead at 2-1.
Buffalo Sabres prospect Matthew Savoie would double the Winnipeg lead at the 17:14 mark with his 11th of the season assisted by Nash and Geekie.
It would take less than thirty seconds for the Raiders to break into the score column in the second period as Sloan Stanick would pot his 9th of the season assisted by Herman and Sorenson just 0:22 in.
Ben Zloty would restore the two goal lead at 4-2 for the ICE at the 6:44 mark with his 7th of the season at the 6:44 mark assisted by Nash and Benson.
Carson Latimer would cut the lead to one as time expired in the second period with his 8th of the season assisted by Crocker.
The Raiders would find the equalizer on the man advantage at the 6:35 mark of the third period. Ryder Ritchie would pot his second goal in as many nights to even the score at 4-4.
However, the ICE would face adversity like a first place team as Conor Geekie would give Winnipeg the lead with his second goal of the game on the power play at the 17:33 mark.
It was the first power play marker of the night for the ICE, but it was the 8th opportunity that Winnipeg had in the game.
Savoie would add an insurance marker just over a minute later to seal the 6-4 victory for the ICE.
“Special teams are always key and defensively, we don’t want to have to give up 12 goals in two games here. We got to make sure we cut these goals against and shots down. Defensively, we got to able to tighten things up and play that style of game which will be the focus for sure.”
THe Raiders return home to the Art Hauser Centre on Wednesday night when they welcome the Brandon Wheat Kings. Puck drops at 7pm.
