A four goal deficit was too much to overcome for the Prince Albert Raiders as they fell 7-4 to the Medicine Hat Tigers at Co-op Place on Wednesday night.
Medicine Hat struck four times in the first 12:46 of the contest. Hunter St. Martin, Jonas Woo and two goals from Kadon McCann got the home side off to a strong start.
Raider interim head coach Ryan McDonald says Prince Albert didn’t take care of the puck early on and the Tigers burned them.
“We knew puck management was going to be key on our exits. We know they are a team that tracks quick on breakouts, trying to kill those exits and we have to make sure we manage blue lines from a D zone perspective. We needed to make sure we had good puck management there, so we didn’t feed them to their transition game and that’s where we got caught in that first 13 minutes as we had a couple of hiccups.”
A four-on-four goal from Justice Christensen would get the Raiders on the board in the final minute of the opening frame. Lukas Dragicevic and Rilen Kovacevic picked up the assists.
Kovacevic, who was acquired in a deal with the Moose Jaw Warriors earlier this week, picked up his first Raider point in his debut.
“He plays heavy, he’s hard on the forecheck.” McDonald said about the 20-year-old. “He plays with a lot of power, he shoots the puck hard, he got thrown in the fire and you watch and you see how he plays with pace out there. He’s the first guy looking to hunt and get that puck back and (he is) a guy that we’re super excited about.”
The Tigers outshot the Raiders 18-5 in the opening twenty minutes of play.
Bryce Pickford would strike just 0:31 into the second period to restore the four goal advantage for the Tigers. Mathew Ward had the lone helper.
Gavin McKenna would pick up his 20th goal of the season at the 13:08 mark coming on the power play. Oasiz Wiesblatt and Tanner Molendyk had the helpers.
That would end the night for Max Hildebrand who gave up six goals on 24 shots.
Down 6-1, the Raiders did not go quietly. Riley Boychuk would deposit his fifth goal of the season at the 18:15 mark after a cross seam pass from Daxon Rudolph.
Just over a minute later, a seeing eye shot from Lukas Dragicevic would float over the right shoulder of Tiger netminder Jordan Switzer to bring the Raiders within three.
Justice Christensen’s second goal of the night would cut the Tiger lead to two at the 10:02 mark of the third period. The Raider captain would unleash a slapshot from the point that beat Switzer cleanly for his 11th of the campaign.
McDonald says the Raiders were able to take care of the puck better as the game progressed, which helped them forge a comeback attempt.
“The first 30, we were turning pucks over in the neutral zone and feeding into their transition and not getting pucks out and feeding into their quick transition from a D zone perspective. We felt on our exits in that second 30, we played a lot more connected. We were able to relieve pressure or make that right play to get the puck across the blue line.”
That would be as close as Prince Albert would get as Ryder Ritchie would ice the game with an empty net goal with just over 90 seconds to go in the contest.
The Raiders return to action on Friday night when they take on the Edmonton Oil Kings at Rogers Place. Puck drops at 8 p.m. Saskatchewan time.
Around The WHL
Oliver Tulk potted a hat trick as the Calgary Hitmen defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-1.
Hayden Harsanyi scored his first goal in a Saskatoon Blades sweater, but the Edmonton Oil Kings got the last laugh with a 4-2 win at Rogers Place.
Ben Riche scored his first goal as a Prince George Cougar in the final minute in a 6-5 win over the Vancouver Giants
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