
The Prince Albert Raiders opened their two-game Alberta road trip with 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Brayden Dube would fire the opening salvo for the Raiders at the 18:50 mark of the first period. After Tomas Mrsic would put a shot on goal on a two-on-one, Dube would crash the net and put home the rebound on the doorstep for his 14th goal of the season.
Edmonton outshot the Raiders 12-6 in the opening frame.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says it wasn’t the start that Prince Albert envisioned, but they were able to overcome it.
“A little bit of a slow start there, (but) the last five minutes of the first period we got going. The second period was filled with penalties and they get a couple, but then our power play turned it on and was the difference of the game.”
Oil King captain Gavin Hodnett would tie the game just 0:48 into the second period. While on a power play, Hodnett would break through the Raider defence and beat Hildebrand for his 14th goal of the season. Gracyn Sawchyn and Ethan MacKenzie had the helpers on the play.
Marshall Finnie would give the Oil Kings their first lead of the hockey game at the 16:11 mark. The 20-year-old would put home a puck from the mouth of the crease for his eighth goal of the season on the power play. Roan Woodward and Josh Mori provided the helpers.
The Raider power play would respond at the 18:02 mark. Lukas Dragicevic would fire a point shot past a screened Alex Worthington for his fifth goal of the season and fourth in the last five games. Krzysztof Macias and Tomas Mrsic would provide the assists.
Entering play, the Raiders had the top ranked power play in the WHL converting at a 29.2% clip. Edmonton had the top ranked penalty kill in the WHL killing 84.3% of opposing power plays.
Truitt says he thought the Raiders did what they needed to do in the special teams battle.
“I thought we did very well. We knew that they were the number one penalty kill going in and you can think about that all you want. We got a very good power play here and it kind of clicked for us here a little bit where it makes a difference. Evaluating it got the job done for us.”
In the third period, Niall Crocker’s 10th goal of the season, coming on the power play would give the Raiders the lead 4:06 into the final frame. Dragicevic and Macias assisted on the play.
Crocker would strike again at the 15:23 mark, also on the power play. A pass from Macias would bank off the back wall straight to Crocker would beat Worthington for his 11th of the season. Aiden Oiring had the secondary assist.
Macias would ice the game with an empty net goal with just over a minute remaining. Vojtech Vochvest recorded his first point as a Raider with a secondary assist.
Raiders fall to Hitmen to finish first half of WHL campaign
The Prince Albert Raiders didn’t come out on the right side of a back and forth game in Calgary on Wednesday night, falling 8-5 to the Calgary Hitmen at the Saddledome.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says Calgary took control of play right from the start.
“The proof is in the pudding in the first period. To get outshot and give up 22 shots in the first period. They were pitching, we were catching. It wasn’t the way that we wanted to start. We talked about it earlier and didn’t respond. We were half a second late here, half a second late there, and they were jumping all over us.
Kalem Parker would break the seal on the scoreboard as the 20-year-old defenceman would strike with his seventh goal of the season coming at the 5:07 mark of the opening frame. David Adazynski and Oliver Tulk assisted on the play.
Tisdale product Connor Hvidston would double the Hitmen lead at the 7:59 mark. The 20-year-old would enter the zone from the left wing and wraparound the net to tuck in his 10th goal of the season. Hunter Aura and Rylan Ng provided the helpers.
The Raiders would respond at the 13:41 mark. A Riley Boychuk shot the slot would go off the post and hit the back of Calgary goaltender Eric Tu. Ty Meunier would jump all over the loose puck in the crease and tuck the loose puck past the goal line for his eighth goal of the season. Luke Moroz picked up the secondary assist.
Raider captain Justice Christensen would even up the score with his seventh goal of the season at the 18:09 mark. The 19-year-old defenceman would blast a one-time shot past Tu from the left wing circle. Tomas Mrsic and Aiden Oiring assisted on the play.
Calgary captain Carson Wetsch would give the Hitmen the lead back with under thirty seconds to go in the frame. Maxim Muranov had the assist for the Hitmen
Shots favored Calgary 22-10 after the opening frame.
David Adazynski would put the Hitmen ahead by two with his fifth goal of the season coming just 4:06 into the middle frame. Oliver Tulk and Kalem Parker assisted on the play.
The Raiders would respond at the 7:40 mark as Tomas Mrsic would strike on the power play for his 18th goal of the campaign. Niall Crocker and Daxon Rudolph assisted on the play.
Riley Boychuk, with plenty of family and friends in attendance, would wire home his third goal of the campaign at the 11:45 mark. Doogan Pederson picked up the lone assist.
Calgary would strike just 1:14 into the third period as Oliver Tulk would find the back of the net for the 15th time this season. Wyatt Pisarczyk and Ben Kindel provided the helpers.
Carson Wetsch would pick up his second goal of the night at the 12:34 mark on the power play to extend the Hitmen lead to two. Tulk and Kindel assisted.
Harrison Lodewyk would bring the Raiders within one at the 15:51 mark with his sixth goal of the season. Brayden Dube and Justice Christensen assisted on the play.
Calgary would put the game out of reach with a pair of empty net goals.
Dimitri Fortin made 36 stops for the Raiders. Eric Tu made 18 stops for the Hitmen.
The Raiders currently sit in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 15-11-3-0 record.
Truitt says the Raiders have done a good job to rebound after a slow start to the season.
“You got to take a look at the totality of the first 29 games of the season where we were kind of down and out there at the beginning, but we fought our way back and hopefully continuing on, to put ourselves in a playoff position. It’s important now for the kids just to go home and just relax and enjoy their families and whatnot and then get back and get revved up here again.“
The Raiders return to action on Friday, December 27 when they welcome the Swift Current Broncos to the Art Hauser Centre.