The Prince Albert Raider spotted the Saskatoon Blades a two goal lead before roaring back to win their third game in three days on Sunday.
Brayden Dube, Brock Cripps, and captain Justice Christensen all scored in a dominant second period where the Raiders outshot the Blades 18-10, scored three goals, and erased a 3-1 Saskatoon lead.
“We got our skating legs going,” Raiders head coach Ryan McDonald said when asked what the difference was in the second period. “(We) continued to play north, play behind, won the backboards, created some o-zone time and then won the back walls. Again, our battle level, we just continued to increase it as the game went on.”
The Blades responded quickly in the third period after falling behind in the second. Former Raider Tyrone Sobry fired a wrist shot from the point past a heavily screened Dimitri Fortin to tie the game up at four just 2:20 into the final frame.
However, Raiders forward Evan Smith put the Raiders up for good a few minutes later when he drove to the net, outmuscled a Saskatoon defenceman, chipped the puck over sprawling Blades goaltender Evan Gardner.
“A real gutsy win (and) gusty weekend,” McDonald said. “Three in three is never an easy thing, especially the short turnaround from Saturday 7 p.m. to Sunday 4 p.m. Again, the guys used everything that was in the take and battled right until the end and did a fantastic job.”
Sunday afternoon’s affair opened the way you would expect when two divisional rivals meet. Christensen and Blades captain Tyler Parr dropped the gloves for a spirited fight just 37 seconds into the first period. It was the second fight of the year for the Raider captain, and the third for Parr, who enthusiastically clapped his hands on the way to the penalty box after the officials stepped in.
The goals game quickly once the scoring started. Kayden Harsanyi and Kazden Mathies put Saskatoon up 2-0 with goals just 20 seconds apart.
Daxon Rudolph cut the lead to one with his 13th of the season just 35 seconds after Mathies scored, but Tristen Doyle restored Saskatoon’s two goal lead with a power play marker nearly three minutes later.
The Raiders responded early in the second. Brayden Dube hammered a one-timer past Gardner on the power play just 1:09 into the period. Brock Cripps made it 3-3 when he drove to the net and deflected a Connor Howe pass over the goal line.
The Raiders took the lead on one of the strangest goals of the season. Justice Christensen tried to feed Rudolph a cross-ice pass from the blueline, but the puck bounced off the legs of Blades centre Cooper Williams, then off the skate of winger Ben Bowtell, before trickling through Gardner’s legs.
The Raiders are back on the ice Wednesday night when they take on the Regina Pats in Regina. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
News and Notes
• Fortin made 22 stops to earn the win for Prince Albert. Gardener made 30 saves in the Saskatoon crease.
• The Raiders were 1/2 on the power play. The Blades were 1/4.
