For the second time in as many home games, the Prince Albert Raiders were tasked with taking on the number one ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League, and the Raiders couldn’t find much traction in an 8-1 defeat to the Winnipeg ICE.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says that Prince Albert fell into penalty trouble and Winnipeg took advantage.
“We took some penalties and they capitalized on it. They got a dynamic power play and skill. We talked about it earlier about not mismanaging pucks and not being undisciplined. We know there is going to be penalties but you try to limit them as much as we can. After they got the third one, the energy went down. You want to fight back and have positive shifts but we just didn’t have enough of it by enough guys here tonight.”
The top line for Winnipeg would open the scoring goal of the hockey game with Connor McClennon’s 21st of the season coming at the 17:32 mark of the opening frame. Matthew Savoie and Zach Benson would be credited with assist on the goals
The ICE were not done as with just 14.1 second remaining in the first period, Carson Lambos would sneak a wrist shot through traffic and past Tikhon Chaika to give the visitors a 2-0 advantage after the opening frame. Benson and McClennon would receive assists on the goal.
Truitt says the goal provided a lot of momentum for Winnipeg
“You never want to give up goals at the end of the period and what not because you’re looking at a 1-0 deficit and then it is a two goal deficit. I don’t think it was a back breaker but they gained a lot of momentum. For us, we have to block shots and do a lot of good things against a very good team.”
Shots in the first period favored Winnipeg 11-4.
Fresh off a two game suspension, Hayden Pakkala made the most of his first game back. The 18-year-old forward would rip a wrist shot past Daniel Hauser to cut the lead to 2-1 just forty seconds into the second period. Easton Kovacs and Justice Christensen would be credited with assists.
However, the ICE would strike right back as Zach Benson would continue to be a thorn in the side of the Prince Albert Raiders. The draft eligible forward would strike for his third point of the night with his 24th goal of the season coming at 2:16. McClennon and Savoie would be credited with assists.
Entering play Wednesday, Benson had recorded five points against Prince Albert in only two games this season.
Former Raider Carson Latimer would make the most of his return to the Art Hauser. The Ottawa Senators prospect would fire to score his 11th goal of the season on the power play at the 12:33 mark of the second period. Zloty and Pederson would be credited with assists on the goal.
The ICE power play would stay hot in the second period as Conor Geekie’s 20th of the season extended the Winnipeg lead to 5-1 at the 18:49 mark. McClennon and Benson would receive credit for the assists.
It wouldn’t take long for the ICE to strike again in the third. Just thirty-six seconds into the final frame, Carson Lambos would pick up his rebound and shoot it past Chaika to extend the Winnipeg lead to 6-1
Just twenty seconds later, the ICE would add another courtesy of Ty Nash at 0:54 to make it 7-1 Winnipeg.
At 3:25 of the third period, Easton Armstrong would strike on the power play to extend the ICE lead to 8-1.
Winnipeg outshot the Raiders 39-16 in the contest.
THe Raiders return to action Friday night when they travel to the SaskTel Centre to take on the Saskatoon Blades. Puck drops at 7pm.
