Daxon Rudolph’s power play goal 48 seconds into overtime ensured the Prince Albert Raiders ended their Alberta road trip on a high note.
The overtime tally was Rudolph’s second goal of the game, and gave the Raiders a 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings.
“(It was) a real gutsy win,” Raiders coach Ryan McDonald said afterward. “It took 60 minutes against a really good team. The guys dug in. It was a dog fight right until the end, and we didn’t give an inch.”
The Raiders entered overtime on the power play after Kanjyu Gosjic received a double-minor for high sticking Maddix McCagherty with 3:09 to go in the third. Rudolph set up on the left hand side and fire the puck through the mesh of defenders towards forward Aiden Oiring, who was parked at the back side of the Oil King net.
The puck hit the goal post next to Oiring, ricocheted off Edmonton netminder Ethan Simcoe, and slid across the line.
“Fantastic movement,” McDonald said when asked about Rudolph’s overtime winner. “A guy looking off the back side, but that’s why you put the puck on the net.
“He (Rudolph) had a real solid two-way game. He was great defensively and again, had some great looks on the power play. (He) just moved the puck so efficiently and defended hard.”
Max Heise, and Maddix McCagherty also scored for the Raiders, who ended their road trip on a two game winning streak. Michael Orsulak made 28 saves to earn the win.
For the second straight game, the Prince Albert Raiders were the opponent on Teddy Bear Toss Night. A crowd of 16,887 packed Rogers Place ready to throw their stuffed animals on the ice, and almost had a chance to do so within two minutes of the opening puck drop.
Oil King forward Lukas Sawchyn drove to the front of the net and barreled into Orsulak before putting the puck in the goal. The officiating crew waved the goal off almost immediately, but the signal didn’t come quick enough to stop a few dozen fans from throwing their teddy bears on the ice.
The Raiders wasted no time taking the lead after the re-start. Heise found himself wide open in front of the Oil Kings net and deposited an Aiden Oiring pass into an empty goal to put Prince Albert up 1-0.
The Oil Kings had numerous opportunities to get the stuffed animals flying, but Orsulak made a number of key saves to keep the game scoreless. Prior to Heise’s goal, the Czech netmineder made a pad save on a rare shorthanded 2-on-0 break. Orsulak then stopped Edmonton centre Andrew O’Neill on a clear-cut breakaway roughly five minutes into the second period.
The Oil Kings eventually broke through courtesy of winger Joe Iginla, who tipped in a Miroslav Holinka shot 7:02 into the second period. The Oil Kings took the lead later in the period on an Ethan MacKenzie power play goal, but McCagherty equalized for the Raiders on another power play just 18 seconds later.
Prince Albert re-took the shortly after. Rudolph scored his first of the game with assists to Riley Boychuk and Evan Smith just 1:01 after McCagherty tied the game. However, Poul Andersen tied it back up less than three minutes later, with assists going to Adam Jecho and Max Curran.
The two teams played a scoreless third period, setting the stage for Rudolph’s overtime heroics.
The Raiders are back on the ice Friday when they take on the Swift Current Broncos. Puck drop is 7 p.m. in Swift Current. Their next home game is Saturday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Puck drop is also 7 p.m.
