The Prince Albert Raiders couldn’t find much momentum as they fell 3-1 to the Lethbridge Hurricanes on the road at the Enmax Centre Saturday night.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says the Raider offense was muffled all night long.
“I don’t think we controlled the puck very well here tonight. Creating any offense was hard. Lost battles in that offense, we didn’t get shots off like we wanted to. They beat us from their zone into our zone. Lots of odd man rushes, you certainly don’t want to see that. We were reading plays wrong and taking gambles we shouldn’t take.”
Logan Wormald opened up the scoring in the first period for Lethbridge with his second goal of the season at the 4:45 mark of the first period.
The Hurricanes outshot the Raiders 13-5 in the first period.
Nolan Allan would tie the game for Prince Albert less than a minute into the middle frame with his first of the season at the 0:57 mark.
The Lethbridge Hurricanes would beat Tikhon Chaika twice in the second period, the first coming from rookie forward Miguel Marques at the 10:52 mark. Cole Shepard contributed to the scoring for the Hurricanes at the 18:19 mark.
Lethbridge held the advantage in shots after 40 minutes, outshooting the Raiders 28-16.
Coming into play Saturday, Tikhon Chaika had a career 1.40 Goals Against Average and a .953 save percentage in 4 career games against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Truitt says Chaika played another strong game against Lethbridge Saturday.
“He was outstanding again.. He was our pillar, he was our rock. Odd man rushes and misreads gave them some quality opportunities and he stood tall.”
In the third, the Raiders would have several opportunities including a five minute power play, but could not convert on the man advantage all night going 0 for 5 with the extra skater.
Prince Albert has yet to record a win away from the Art Hauser Centre this season. Truitt says the team needs to battle every night regardless of venus
“We got to show up and battle every night, no matter where we’re at. When our battle level is where it needs to be. We’ve been in some tight games, and haven’t got rewarded. We got to chew nails when we can.”
The Raiders road trip continues Wednesday against Connor Bedard and the Regina Pats at the Brandt Centre. The Raiders return home on Saturday, Oct. 15 against the Calgary Hitmen
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