The Prince Albert Raiders couldn’t hold onto an early lead falling 5-2 to the Brandon Wheat Kings at Westoba Place on Tuesday night.
After having a 2-0 lead late in the second period, the Raiders couldn’t hold on giving up five unanswered tallies to the Wheat Kings.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says Prince Albert didn’t come through in clutch moments later in the game.
“The first period was a good road period. We got through that period 0-0 and then we get out to the 2-0 lead, and then it went 2-1 after two. You expect guys to clutch up a little bit and then there were a couple of turnovers and a power play goal against, it was disappointing. We got to perform better than that in key times.”
Dayce Derkatch would open the scoring at the 5:14 mark of the second period with a wraparound goal tucking a loose puck past Carson Bjarnason for his third goal of the season. Evan Smith and Oli Chenier had the helpers.
Lukas Dragicevic would double the Raider lead with his 14th goal of the season at the 14:34 mark of the middle frame. After a double drop pass from Riley Boychuk and Ty Meunier, the Seattle Kraken prospect beat Bjarnason with a wrist shot.
Brandon would get on the board at the 15:22 mark as Jordan Gavin’s 19th of the season off a 2-on-1 rush would cut the Raider lead in half. Matteo Michels and Quinn Mantei assisted on the play.
In the third period, a fortunate bounce on a power play would help the Wheat Kings tie the game. Nolan Flamand’s shot would go off the skate of a Raider defenceman and in 2:47 into the final frame. Marcus Nguyen and Nicholas Johnson assisted on the play.
Dominik Petr would give the Wheat Kings the lead for the first time with an unassisted goal at the 8:38 mark.
Carter Klippenstein would add an insurance marker at the 16:36 mark following a turnover in the Raider zone. Brady Turko would have the lone assist.
Quinn Mantei would ice things for the Wheat Kings with an empty net goal.
Truitt says the Raiders didn’t get the contributions from their veteran players to stop the Wheat King momentum.
“We knew that the push was going to be on, we had a couple of turnovers here and then we just didn’t generate enough chances. I think we had one shot in the first 10 minutes of the third period, and it certainly isn’t going to be a recipe for momentum. You rely on your older guys to change the tide, but it didn’t happen.”
Max Hildebrand made 33 stops in the loss for the Raiders. Carson Bjarnason made 27 saves for Brandon.
The Raiders return to action on Friday night when they welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors to the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
