Fans who missed watching the Prince Albert Raiders take on the Regina Pats at the Brandt Centre on Sept. 26 witnessed a near repeat performance at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday.
Three weeks ago, the Raiders jumped out to a 4-0 lead, only to have the Pats claw their way back into the game in a close 6-4 Prince Albert win. On Friday, the Raiders led 5-1 heading into the third period, but Regina came roaring back with four third period goals in a 6-5 Prince Albert victory.
Head coach Ryan McDonald said the Raiders played fast and hard for 40 minutes, but were a little too casual to begin the third period, and the Pats made the most of their chances.
“They (Regina) work extremely hard,” McDonald said. “They play right until the end. There’s some learning moments in there for us in that third period where we’ll get to the film and we’ll learn from it.”
“They’re a good team,” added Raiders forward Evan Smith, whose third period goal made it 6-2 Raiders and ended up being the game winner. “We went up with the lead early, but if you give a team in the Western Hockey League a little bit of hope they’re going to jump on it. It’s a good league with good players in it. I think we just didn’t really battle all the way, but we got the win.”
Special teams were a big factor in Regina’s third period rally. The Pats opened the period with a short-handed goal from Jace Egland just 18 seconds in, and although Smith restored Prince Albert’s four goal lead roughly six minutes later, the fireworks were only just beginning.
The Raiders were penalized three times in the last 10 minutes of the third period, resulting in one Pats power play goal from Ephram McNutt, plus a power play goal in everything but name when Mathis Paul scored just two seconds after Oli Chenier’s tripping penalty had expired.
“(We’ve) got to make sure we keep our sticks down,” McDonald said. “You’re checking with your feet, not with your sticks. We ran into a little bit of penalty trouble there, and give the Pats a lot of credit, they capitalize on their opportunities.
“For us, again, it’s learning from those situations. Our guys do a tremendous job. We’ll sit down. We’ll look at the film, we’ll look at it and we’ll learn from it.”
Raiders forward Aiden Oiring was in the box for the Pat’s third period power play goal. He was also called for hooking with 1:51 to play, forcing the Raiders to play the rest of the game short-handed. In total, Oiring received three of the Raiders’ five minor penalties.
The boos and jeers rained down from all corners of the Art Hauser Centre after fans watched a replay of the last penalty call on the scoreboard video screen. A few fans got an easily audible “ref you suck” chant going while Oiring pleaded his case on the way to the penalty box.
The Raider forward maintained a diplomatic outlook when asked about the call after the game.
“You can’t argue with the refs really,” he said. “They have the final decisions. You’ve just got to deal with it and kill it off.”
While Oiring may have run into penalty trouble, he had an otherwise productive night. The Raider 20-year-old scored twice in the first period, and assisted on Owen Corkish’s goal midway through the second for a three point night.
The Raider offence was effective enough to force their opponents to pull their starting goalie for the second straight game. On Friday, it was Marek Schlenker bearing the brunt of the Raider attack. He stopped 19 of 24 shots before giving away to Taylor Tabashniuk with 10:35 to play in the second.
Oiring said the Raiders did a good job causing havoc in front of the Pats net during the first 40 minutes, but got away from that style of play as the game went on.
“We’ve just got to bare down in that last period,” he said. “Ten minutes left, they got back into it a little bit. (We have to) just shrug it off and play simple.”
News and Notes:
• Smith had two goals on Friday, both thanks to great setups from import right winger Alisher Sarkenov. The Astana, Kazakhstan product has four points in three games since joining the Raiders.
• Raider defenceman Hubert Clarke had the check of the night when he crunched Pats right winger Shea Rollason at centre ice in the last five minutes of the first period.
• Jonah Sivertson’s first period power play goal was his third tally in four games for Prince Albert.
• The Raiders went 1/3 on the power play. The Pats were 2/5.
• Dimitri Fortin made 26 saves in the Raider goal, including a pivotal breakaway stop on Pats defenceman Kolten Bridgeman early in the third period
• Prince Albert outshot Regina 17-6 in the first period, but the visitors held the edge in both the second (12-11) and third (13-11).
• The Raiders are back at it on Saturday when they face the Edmonton Oil Kings in a re-match of last year’s WHL first round series. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre.
