For the second time in four games, the Prince Albert Raiders took on the Red Deer Rebels, and came away with a similar result, losing 5-1 in Red Deer on Saturday.
Despite trailing 2-0 after two periods, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid felt his team played well in the first half of the game.
“We outshot them and we were still in it when they made it 2-0,” Habscheid said. “We were pressing for that 2-1 goal and we were right there, but had trouble scoring.”
The Raiders found themselves down 6:22 into the first period, when Kalan Lind opened the scoring for the Rebels. Hunter Mayo ripped a shot from the point that missed the net wide, but bounced off the boards and right to the stick of Lind, and he beat Carter Serhyenko, giving Red Deer a 1-0 lead.
With just under five minutes to go in the opening period, Remy Aquilon turned the puck over at centre ice, allowing Arshdeep Bains and Ben King to break in on a two on one. Bains slipped a pass to a streaking King, who danced down the middle and put a shot over Serhyenko’s glove, doubling the Rebels lead to 2-0.
The Rebels took that 2-0 lead into the first intermission, with the shots on goal tied 9-9.
The second period had a much flatter pace to it, with not a lot of chances, and Red Deer held their two goal lead heading into the third period.
With not a lot of offense in the second period for either team, Habscheid felt like their systems just weren’t working.
“We pushed and guys were trying to score, but it’s difficult for some of them,” he said. “You can’t get mad at them because they are trying. You try to get systems going for them that help them to score, but in the end they’re using their talent to try to score, and tonight that didn’t happen.”
In the third, it took just 51 seconds for the Rebels to add an insurance goal. The Raiders killed off a penalty that carried over into the third period, but just seconds after the penalized Pakkala returned to the icwe, Red Deer capitalized. Another point shot, this time by Christoffer Sedoff, went wide of the Raider goal, but bounced right in front of the net. After a brief scramble, the puck found its way to Kai Uchacz’s stick, and he made no mistake burying his fifth goal of the year making it a 3-0 game.
“When they got their third goal that’s kind of when it sunk in,” Habscheid added. “They scored their third and that was the ball game.”
Prince Albert had their best chances to respond later in the third period, but whatever chances they seemed to develop, Rebels goaltender Connor Ungar had the answer, including a huge save on rookie Vlad Shilo.
King and Uchacz each scored their second goals a minute apart from each other, as the Rebels took the game by the horns with seven minutes left, going up 5-0.
The Raiders found their first goal of the night with 2:50 left in the game, as Evan Herman was on the doorstep after a Landon Kosior shot, collecting his fourth goal of the season, making it a 5-1 Red Deer lead.
That would end up being the final score, giving the Raiders a 1-2 record over their three game road trip. They will return home to take on the Moose Jaw Warriors on Wednesday at the Art Hauser Centre.
Puck drop is at 7pm.
@kyle_kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca
