The Prince Albert Raiders were 21 seconds away from overtime, but a familiar face made sure they never got there.
Former Raider Matteo Gennaro’s goal with less than a minute left broke open a tie hockey game, and allowed the Swift Current Broncos to escape the Credit Union I-plex with a 2-1 victory.
Coach Marc Habscheid credited his team for outshooting and outplaying the Broncos, who currently sit second in the WHL’s East Division. However, Prince Albert’s special teams proved to be the club’s undoing.
“We just killed too many penalties and then when we did have chances on the power play we didn’t cash in,” Habscheid said afterwards.
Despite taking the first five penalties of the game, the Raiders managed to escape the first period without any major damage. It took a sixth power play early in the second before the dam broke.
Colby Sissons scored his seventh of the season, with assists to Max Patterson and Glenn Gawdin, to make it a 1-0 game.
Prince Albert had three straight power plays following Sissons’ goal, but weren’t able to tie things up until the first minute of the third period. Cole Fonstad corralled a rebound after a shot from Jordy Stallard and tucked it into the Bronco net to make it 1-1 a mere 26 seconds in.
With goals being hard to come by, the two teams seemed destined for a repeat of their last matchup, which also went to overtime. However, Gennaro fought his way to the front of the net and tipped in a pass to give Swift Current a last-second win.
“We still outplayed them and outshot them, but they got that late goal,” Habscheid said. “We turned it over in their end and they got it on the rush and put it in, so it’s kind of a disappointing ending.”
Tuesday’s loss drops the Raiders’ record to 12-13-7 on the year, while the Broncos improve to 23-7-2.
Ian Scott made 27 saves for the Raiders, while Swift Current’s Logan Flodell stopped 34 shots to earn the victory.
The Raiders are back in action on Wednesday, Dec. 13, when they take on the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is 7 p.m.
@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca