You can’t count the Prince Albert Raiders out of any game and they couldn’t quite put the finishing touches on another comeback effort Tuesday falling 4-2 to the Swift Current Broncos at the Art Hauser Centre.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says he was pleased with what he saw out of the team, despite the final result on the scoreboard.
“The comeback attempt was good. It’s not that it’s surprising, because we’ve done an awful lot. I thought we got off to a bit of a bad start. The first 10 minutes, and then I thought we got some traction. We gained a little bit of momentum and battled hard. We had puck possession, and we made some really good plays. I was happy with the effort. We just needed to bury that one (in the third).”
Swift Current would open the scoring at the 6:54 mark of the opening frame as rookie blueliner Peyton Kettles would rifle home his second goal of the season from the point. Mathew Ward and Conor Geekie recorded assists on the tally.
Ryder Ritchie would draw Prince Albert even with his 18th goal of the season coming at the 15:32 mark of the opening frame. Krzysztof Macias picked up the lone helper.
Conor Geekie would give the Broncos the lead at the 7:22 mark as the Arizona Coyotes prospect would bury his 38th goal of the season on the power play. Josh Filmon and Connor Hvidston provided the helpers.
Lukie Mistelbacher would extend the Swift Current lead to two with his 19th goal of the season at the 17:50 mark of the middle frame. Geekie and Clarke Caswell assisted on the play.
The Raiders would pull within one at the 6:25 mark as Niall Crocker would find twine for the 23rd time this season. Krzysztof Macias and Jacob Hoffrogge assisted on the play.
Prince Albert would have a golden opportunity to tie the game in the final minute, but Macias would miss just wide to keep the Broncos ahead by one.
Geekie would ice the game for Swift Current with an empty netter with just 31 seconds left.
The Strathclair, Manitoba product took first star honors in the contest with four points on the evening, accounting in part on all four Bronco tallies.
A former first round NHL draft pick with game breaking ability, Truitt says the Raiders will need to cut down on the time they give Geekie.
“Number one, you got to get in his way. He’s a big man and he’s a strong guy. His release is NHL caliber at this point in time, but you just need to be on him, limit the time and space. It’s a cliche, but you can see when he’s got time, he can rifle it, and you got to take that away from him.”
Reid Dyck made 27 stops for the Broncos to earn his 23rd win of the season. Max Hildebrand made 22 stops for the Raiders.
The Raiders return to action on Friday night when they travel to the Brandt Centre for a meeting with Tanner Howe and the Regina Pats. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
