Giving up three power play goals turned out to be the kryptonite of the Prince Albert Raiders as they fell 5-4 in overtime to the Broncos in Swift Current on Friday night.
Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says Prince Albert did not control the puck well in the defeat.
“I thought it was very sloppy, there wasn’t a lot of puck control by both teams. There was a lot of things that happened in this game that just opened things up. You got to control the puck a lot better. We’ve got to clean things up that way. We got to control that puck and manage it a lot better.”
Prince Albert would open the scoring at the 4:43 mark of the first period as Sloan Stanick got his first goal of the season from Latimer and Allan on the power play.
Swift Current would answer back just under three minutes later as Clarke Caswell got his second of the season from Josh Filmon at the 7:29 mark of the first period.
The Raiders would answer back less then a minute later at the 8:19 mark. Carson Latimer buried his second of the season on the power play from Evan Herman giving Prince Albert a 2-1 lead
But the penalty troubles would begin to surface for the Raiders. Dallyn Peekeekoot was sent off for a two minute tripping minor penalty and Raphael Pelletier would convert 1:09 seconds into the man advantage to tie the game at 2-2 after twenty minutes. Shots were 16-9 in favor of the Broncos.
The Bronco power play kept rolling in the second period. Niall Crocker was called for a hooking minor at the 4:43 mark in the second period and Josh Filmon scored on the power play at the 5:56 mark to put the Broncos ahead 3-2.
Swift Current’s power play stayed perfect in their third opportunity on the man advantage. Landon Kosior was sent off for roughing at the 13:08 mark and Connor Hvidston notched his second goal of the season on the man advantage giving Swift Current a 4-2 lead.
Truitt says the Raiders can’t afford to give other teams too many opportunities on the man advantage.
“They score 3 power play goals on the first 3 chances. We’re taking penalties because we’re chasing things and that’s not how we want to play, we got to shore that up. It came down to a special teams battle here tonight. We can’t put ourselves in the box this often.”
Prince Albert would cut the Swift Current lead in half before the end of the second period. Sloan Stanick would find the back of the net for the second time in the game at the 19:17 mark to bring the Raiders within a goal after 40 minutes.
After no action on the scoreboard for the majority of the third period, Keaton Sorenson would get the game tying goal at the 18:14 mark of the third period and the Raiders evened up the score at 4.
However, the Raiders would walk away with only one point on the night as Kayden Sadhra-Kang would score the overtime winner at the 4:09 mark of the extra frame to give the Swift Current Broncos the victory.
Truitt says it was nice to see the comeback effort from the team but knows they will have a tough road test tomorrow night in Lethbridge.
“It’s nice for the guys to come back, you certainly want to be able to control the game a lot better. Tomorrow night, we are going to be pressed again by a good team that pressures the puck. We saw that in PA. They’re a heavy team and they’ll be excited to play at home. We got to keep things simple playing two games in two nights. Keep the game simple and manage the puck, we can’t get into a penalty kill desperation mode. We got to keep everyone as fresh as we can.”
The Raider road trip will continue on Saturday night from the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge. The Raiders defeated the Hurricanes 3-0 at the Art Hauser Centre on Wednesday night. The next home game for Prince Albert is on Saturday, Oct. 15 against the Calgary Hitmen.
