Sloan Stanick scored his first, second, and third goals as a Raider, as Prince Albert beat the Saskatoon Blades 5-2 in the second half of their home and home series on Saturday night.

“Those were a big four points for us to get this weekend,” Stanick said. “We all played together and I think we’re all coming along as a team. Our powerplay was on point this weekend, and all four lines and six defenceman were playing really well this weekend.”

Tyson Laventure also scored twice in the win, improving the Raiders to 5-7-0-1 on the season.

Seven icings in the first eight minutes of the game slowed the pace right down to start things off. Landon Kosior later headed to the penalty box to serve a cross checking penalty, but the Blades failed to capitalize. The game continued to be a back and forth affair for most of the opening frame, exchanging shots and chances.

Trevor Wong had the best chance of the period for the Blades, as he was sprung on a breakaway, but Carter Serhyenko made a huge save, keeping it a tie.

With 1:53 left in the first period, Sloan Stanick led a two on one rush for the Raiders, and he kept the puck, firing a laser, going bar down on Saskatoon netminder Ethan Chadwick.

The Blades had a glorious chance to tie the game towards the end of the period, when Brendan Lee sent a cross crease pass to Brandon Lisowsky, but Serhyenko made a huge pad save lunging to his left and making the save of the game for the Raiders.

The Raiders held onto their 1-0 lead into the first intermission, despite trailing 9-5 in the shot department.
Stanick wasn’t done scoring on the night, as he drew a penalty shot after being sent on a breakaway. He made no mistake on the penalty shot, putting a shot through the five hole of Chadwick, and putting Prince Albert up 2-0.

Later in the middle frame, with the Raiders on the powerplay, Ozzy Wiesblatt sent a crisp pass from the right hashmark to the left for a waiting Tyson Laventure, and he rocketed a shot top shelf over Chadwick, putting the Raiders up by three. That would be the end of Chadwick’s night, as he was replaced by Nolan Maier between the pipes midway through the second period.

Laventure found the scoresheet again with 2:33 left in the second, as Keaton Sorenson set him up with a pass from behind the net. Laventure corked another one timer, beating Maier on the blocker side, giving the Raiders a 4-0 lead after two periods.

It didn’t take long for the Blades to respond in the third period, as Egor Sidorov was the recipient of a stretch pass from Ben Saunderson. Sidorov took advantage of a poor Raider line change, and streaked down the right wing. He made a backhand forehand move, freezing Serhyenko, allowing him to make a move across the crease, and potting his seventh of the season, cutting the Raider lead to 4-1.

With 4:03 left in the third, Sloan Stanick completed the hat trick on the powerplay. Laventure put a shot on goal, and Stanick was right in front for the redirection. His third of the game made it a 5-1 Raider lead, and their second powerplay goal of the night.

“I just wanted to play my game,” Stanick added. “I’m playing with two great players in Tyson Laventure and Reece Vitelli, so that made it a little easier out there for me.”

The Blades would get a man advantage of their own late in the third, and it was only a matter of time before Tristan Robins found the scoresheet. He sniped a shot under the arm of Serhyenko, making it a 5-2 lead for Prince Albert, scoring Saskatoon’s first powerplay goal of the weekend.

The Blades pulled their goalie with two minutes left in the third while down by three goals, but failed to generate any chances on offence. They would actually take two penalties in the final minute of the game, giving the Raiders a five on three man advantage in the dying seconds, killing the rest of the time on the scoreboard.

Stanick picked up his first three goals with Prince Albert, adding an assist as well. Laventure tallied two goals and an assist as well. The quiet stat of the night was Kaiden Guhle, who recorded three assists, while looking solid on the Raiders backend.

Serhyenko put in a similar performance as Friday night, making 25 saves on 26 shots, including a few early game saving stops.

“We’ve been playing well and we know what we can do out there,” Serhyenko said. “We had a really good team effort in both games. Good shot blocks, good clears and breakouts. The team really made it easy for me out there.”

Serhyenko made 24 saves in both Friday and Saturday’s wins, and now that he gets the opportunity to be a full time starter in the WHL, he feels he is really settling into the role.

“I’m just trying to give the team a chance to win every night, and I know I can do that. We have a lot of new faces this year, but I think we’re all coming together well, but at the same time we have to keep getting better. We can’t be complacent with where we’re at. We still need to keep improving and we’ve still got a long way to go if we want to win the league again.”

The Raiders have now won three games in a row, and look to continue rolling into next week. They’ll have a tough test when they welcome the Edmonton Oil Kings for the first time this season on Wednesday. The Oil Kings currently sit first in the Central division, sitting 10-3-1-1.

Puck drop from the Art Hauser Centre on Wednesday at 7pm.