Raiders get revenge on Oil Kings

Lucas Punkari/Daily Herald Cole Fonstad was one of five Prince Albert Raiders who scored on Edmonton Oil Kings netminder Todd Scott Monday night.

Having suffered a 6-3 loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings at the Art Hauser Centre Friday, the Prince Albert made a statement in a rematch Monday.

In the final regular season meeting between the two sides, the Raiders turned in a stellar performance on the road as they picked up a 5-1 win over the Oil Kings at Rogers Place.

“That was a complete performance from top to bottom,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “After they beat us in our rink, our guys wanted to pay them back.

“When I came into the dressing room before the game, they were all business. You could tell that they really wanted this one.”

One of the biggest differences for the Raiders in Monday’s win was their work on the power play, as they converted two of their five chances on the man advantage.

After scoring two power play goals on three opportunities in a 4-1 victory over the Victoria Royals on Jan. 22, the Raiders had failed to score on 17 attempts with the man advantage in their last four games.

“We changed up some things a little bit going into this one and we honestly could have had more than two goals on the power play tonight,” Habscheid said.

“Our guys did an excellent job of executing the new things that we added to our structure.”

Brett Leason led the way with a goal and two assists for the 43-7-0-2 Raiders, who have won their last two games.

Dante Hannoun dished out a pair of helpers in his 300th career WHL contest, while Ozzy Weisblatt, Cole Fonstad and Parker Kelly also scored.

Ian Scott turned aside 25 shots in the win, with his lone blemish coming on a second period power play goal by Vince Loschiavo.

Todd Scott made 41 saves for the 29-16-4-4 Oil Kings, who saw their four-game win streak come to an end Monday.

The Raiders will be back in action Friday as they will visit the Calgary Hitmen for a game at the Stampede Corral.

That night will also mark a major milestone for overage forward Sean Montgomery, as he’ll play in his 331st career WHL game in his hometown and break Brett Novak’s mark for the most contests played in a Raiders uniform.

Post-Game Notes

The Raiders went 3-1 against the Oil Kings this year, which marked the third straight campaign that they won the season series by that margin.

The Oil Kings last had the upper hand in regular season matchups against the Raiders in 2011-12, when they won all four meetings on their way to their first league title.

Raiders forward Justin Nachbaur served the first of a three-game suspension Monday that he received for a fight with Tristin Langan at the end of Saturday’s game with the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Langan received a game suspension for the incident, as both players have been disciplined by the league for the third time in their careers.

Nachbaur was the lone scratch for the Raiders while the Oil Kings did not dress defenceman Jacson Alexander, Logan Dowhaniuk and Matthew Robertson, along with forwards David Kope and Jake Neighbours.

Neighbours was serving the first of a four-game suspension that he received for a boarding major penalty in Saturday’s road game with the Saskatoon Blades.

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