It was a heart thriller barn burner at the Art Hauser Centre, but the Prince Albert Raiders came out on the right side of it with a 5-4 win over the Portland Winterhawks on Tuesday night.
Raider interim head coach Ryan McDonald says the Raiders did well defending a talented Winterhawk team that likes to push the pace of play.
“They’re a team that plays extremely fast. They like to go north with the puck in a hurry. They track fast, they don’t give you a whole lot of time to make plays. For us it was finding a way to continue to make plays on the move and continue to keep pucks coming north and making sure that we count it to five in front of us.”
Portland would double the Raiders in shots in the first period, but the home side would take a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.
Rilen Kovacevic would strike for his first goal at the Art Hauser Centre at the 10:27 mark on the power play to open the scoring. Lukas Dragicevic and Aiden Oiring would provide the helpers.
The Winterhawks would have a 2-on-1 short handed opportunity later in the frame, but a terrific defensive play by Daxon Rudolph would break up the chance and send the Raiders the other way.
Riley Boychuk would bury his sixth goal of the season on the ensuing play to double the Raider lead. Rudolph and Ty Meunier provided the helpers.
Portland would score twice in the opening 7:48 of the middle frame to tie the game. Josh Zakreski would find a loose puck for his 22nd goal of the season just 1:01 in.
Michigan State commit Tyson Jugnauth would reach double digits in the goal column for the first time in his WHL career when he tied the game with an unassisted tally
Prince Albert came storming back with a pair of goals of their own.
Niall Crocker would strike for his 16th goal of the season to put the Raiders back in front.
Not even two minutes later, Brayden Dube would beat Ondrej Stebetak clean with a wrist shot for his 18th goal of the season.
That would end the night for the Czech import netminder as Marek Schlenker would take over the crease for the remainder of the night. Stebetak made eight saves on 12 shots in 34:32 of action.
Kyle Chyzowski became the second player in the WHL this season to break the 30 goal plateau with a power play marker at the 16:22 mark. Alex Weiermair and Tyson Jugnauth provided the helpers.
The Raiders would respond just over two minutes later as a drop pass by Brayden Dube found the tape of Aiden Oiring and the centreman made no mistake for his 18th goal of the season and restored a two goal lead for the Raiders.
Zakreski would pull the Winterhawks within one just 2:17 into the third period. Kayd Ruedig had the lone helper.
Alex Weiermair would have a golden opportunity to tie the game less than two minutes later, but Max Hildebrand would make the best of his 37 saves with a sprawling glove stop to rob the former University of Denver Pioneer.
Portland would push for the equalizer and even had nearly a minute of 6-on-4 time but couldn’t find the back of the net.
“You bend, but you don’t break.” McDonald said. “Exiting our zone was an area that we wanted to look at to make sure that we’re getting to play fast and north and pucks get to where they need to be. It’s no different in the neutral zone. We need to make sure pucks get behind. When we had time and space, I thought we did a pretty good job of making plays off the rush. You’ll see a couple of goals in the second period where we capitalize on some of their turnovers.”
The Raiders return to action on Friday night when they welcome the Swift Current Broncos to the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
Friday night WHL schedule
Medicine Hat @ Calgary
Brandon @ Everett
Seattle @ Kelowna
Portland @ Moose Jaw
Swift Current @ Prince Albert
Edmonton @ Regina
Red Deer @ Saskatoon
Prince George @ Spokane
Tri-City @ Vancouver
Kamloops @ Victoria
Lethbridge @ Wenatchee