The Prince Albert Raiders are heading to Edmonton tied 1-1 in their best-of-seven first round playoff series with the Edmonton Oil Kings.
Oil Kings take Game 1
The visiting Oil Kings drew first blood in the series, taking Game 1 by a 3-1 score at the Art Hauser Centre.
Raider interim head coach Ryan McDonald says Prince Albert got better as the game went along.
“I think it was a hard-fought battle. I thought we did a lot of things right. We played north with the puck quickly, we created chances. I thought our F3 got better as the game went on and we played on top of that second layer. A couple mistakes and breakdowns on our side, I thought our guys pushed and we battled back and give her a chance right right until the end. We hit a couple posts in the second period that could have been the difference.”
An unassisted short-handed goal from Gracyn Sawchyn would open up the scoring just 0:29 in shocking the Raider faithful at the Art Hauser Centre.
Niall Crocker would tie the game at the 18:34 mark with his first goal of the playoffs. Riley Boychuk and Daxon Rudolph picked up the assists on the play for their first career WHL playoff points.
The Oil Kings would take the lead at the 9:03 mark of the second period. After a strong forecheck caused a Raider turnover, Landon Hanson would outwait Max Hildebrand and tuck home the go-ahead goal. Gavin Hodnett had the lone helper.
The Raiders would push for the equalizer, but could not solve Alex Worthington who made 31 saves on 32 shots to earn the win.
Sawchyn would ice the game with an empty net goal with just under two minutes remaining in the contest.
McDonald says the first game of the series was a good learning lesson for Prince Albert.
“Details matter, stuff gets tighter, emphasis on continuing to get pucks in and behind and getting after it. Emphasis on working making sure we’re grinding underneath those tops of the circles and putting pucks at the net with the traffic landing at the net.”
Hildebrand, penalty kill shines in Game 2 victory
The Raiders responded in a big way in Game 2 knocking off the Oil Kings 6-1 to tie the series at 1-1.
McDonald says he was pleased with the bounceback Prince Albert showed after a disappointing Game 1 loss.
“It was a real good rebound game for us. I thought our start was great. We got pucks behind. We got after them right off the bat and just fed through our momentum.”
Prince Albert were eight for nine on the penalty kill in the game and converted on two of their four power play opportunities.
McDonald says the officiating saw things differently than the Raiders throughout the course of the game.
“It’s a game of emotions. The guys are out there on both sides, they’re playing hard and they’re playing for keeps. Emotions boil over at certain points. They see things that they see and make calls and sometimes we don’t agree with every single one of them. But for us, it’s a big thing to make sure that we’re disciplined and keep our emotions in check.”
A slapshot from the point from Justice Christensen would open the scoring at the 19:24 mark of the first period. Daxon Rudolph and Harrison Lodewyk provided the helpers on the play.
Rilen Kovacevic would double the Raider lead at the 2:35 mark of the second period with his first goal of the playoffs. Linden Burrett and Riley Boychuk had the helpers.
It was Kovacevic’s first goal in 16 games after he missed some time down the stretch of the regular season due to injury.
“It’s obviously tough hockey to come right into after not playing for a few weeks.” Kovacevic explained. “But I found a good step tonight. I thought it was pretty slow last night, but it’s just going to get better as we go.”
Kovacevic, who won the WHL championship with the Moose Jaw Warriors last year, says it was great to see the Raiders rebound in a big way in Game 2.
“It was a learning curve last night. I think we just kind of were stepping on our own toes a little bit. It’s only going to get better. And we have a really solid group of top guys that are going to lead us there.”
Edmonton would pull within one at the 6:01 mark as Lukas Sawchyn would put home a rebound on the power play. Adam Jecho and Gavin Hodnett assisted on the play.
Niall Crocker’s second of the series on the power play would extend the Raider lead to 3-1. Tomas Mrsic and Lukas Dragicevic assisted on the play.
Crocker would strike again at the 3:04 mark of the third period for his second of the night. Rudolph and Lodewyk provided the helpers.
Aiden Oiring and Lukas Dragicevic would add markers to put the game out of reach for Edmonton.
Max Hildebrand was named the first star of the game making 42 saves for the Raiders.
The Oil Kings were doing everything they could to get under the skin of the 20-year-old netminder.
Hildebrand says the team in front of him was a big reason for his success in the win.
“They have guys where they’re going to try and get in my head and I just got to keep my emotions in check, which I try to do to the best of my ability and I had lots of help tonight on the PK. Vochvest had some big blocks, I’m sure Juice (Justice Christensen) had a few. It was a team effort there and we got to do it for a couple more games here.”
The series shifts to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday night at Roger’s Place. Hildebrand says the Raiders are taking a business as usual approach.
“it’s just another game on the road. We’ve played Edmonton tons of times and their crowd is nothing like ours so I’m not too worried.”
Puck drops at 7 p.m. both nights.
sports@paherald.sk.ca
