The Prince Albert Raiders six game point streak came to a close with a 4-1 loss to the Moose Jaw Warriors at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday night.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says he thought the team had a good start, but didn’t play a complete game in the loss.
“The first period I thought outside of the turnover they put in our net, I thought that we were aggressive on our shot mentality and it showed on the clock. Even though we were down, we had a lot of offensive zone opportunities and shooting the puck, being aggressive on things.
There were some positives in that first period outside, perhaps the goals, but after that, there were some bad habits that crept in. They took advantage of those.”
Fans were just settling into their seats when the visiting Warriors would open the scoring. Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Brayden Yager would strike for his 8th goal of the season just twenty seconds in to give Moose Jaw an early 1-0 lead.
The Raiders would outshoot Moose Jaw 24-9 in the first period, but the Warriors would take a 2-0 lead after the first twenty minutes.
Jagger Firkus would be sprung on a partial breakaway and would bury his eighth goal of the season at the 19:24 mark to double the Moose Jaw lead. Captain Denton Mateychuk had the lone assist.
The Raiders would finally break through at the 5:29 mark of the second period on the power play. Cole Peardon would find a rebound and pot it home past a sprawling Jackson Unger for his second goal of the season. Brayden Dube and Justice Christensen provided the helpers.
Firkus would restore the two goal advantage for the Warriors with his second of the game coming with 11.1 seconds to go in the middle frame. Mateychuk and Brayden Schuurman assisted on the play.
Immediately following the second Firkus goal, Terrell Goldsmith would be assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty.
Truitt says the Raiders gave up a lot of momentum throughout the game allowing goals in the first and final minutes of periods.
“We give up a goal of 20 seconds in and then we give up a goal of 11 seconds left in the period. Those are killers and not only do they score the goal, but we take a penalty along with that play. We’re killing it in the third period. It’s momentous and when one thing goes wrong, you can’t have two or three.”
On the ensuing power play, Firkus would complete the hat trick just fifty-five seconds into the third period with a one timer. Yager and Mateychuk assisted on the goal.
Jackson Unger made 38 saves in net for Moose Jaw. Chase Coward made 25 stops for the Raiders.
The Raiders return to action Wednesday when they travel to Swift Current to take on the Broncos. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
