Strong third period lifts Raiders past Wenatchee

Nathan Reiter/Daily Herald. The Prince Albert Raiders acknowledge the home crowd after defeating the Wenatchee Wild 5-2 at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday night.

The Prince Albert Raiders had to battle to the very end to pull out a 5-2 win over the Wenatchee Wild at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday night.

Prince Albert scored four times in the third period after trailing 2-1 after forty minutes. Raider head coach Jeff Truitt says it took a while for the Raiders to find their footing.

“I didn’t think we got off to a very good start. I thought that they jumped all over us and showed a lot of energy and work. I know that they came off a loss last night, but they all worked us for the better part of that first period. We’re fortunate we got the goal that we did. In the second period, not a lot of room. There’s a lot of contact and things like that. Third period, we found a way to get through some traffic and get some shots on net against a very good team.”

Luka Shcherbyna would open the scoring for Wenatchee finishing off a transition play for his 12th goal of the season at the 3:16 mark. Shaun Rios and Reid Andresen picked up the helpers.

Shaun Rios would double the Wild lead with his 18th goal of the season at the 17:58 mark in transition. Boston Tait had the lone assist to record his first WHL point.

The Raiders would respond just 16 seconds later as Justice Christensen would wire home his 16th goal of the season with a slap shot from the left point. Daxon Rudolph and Rilen Kovacevic assisted on the play.

Prince Albert would have a prime opportunity to tie the game late in the second period with 1:45 of 5-on-3 power play time, but Wenatchee would kill it successfully. The Wild have the eighth ranked penalty kill in the WHL this season, killing 79.1 percent of opposing power plays.

Truitt says Wenatchee did an excellent job of making sure the Raiders had to move pucks quickly.

“They work extremely hard. There’s pressure all over the place, and I thought that we did a much better job in our last two power plays to free things up. We would just want to stay in traffic and allow them to keep pressuring. I thought that we spread them out pretty well and opened up some ice for us.”

The Raider power play would break through to tie the game at the 7:08 mark of the third period. After a scramble in front of the Wenatchee net, Brayden Dube would deposit his 23rd goal of the season, potting home a loose puck in front of Brendan Gee. Lukas Dragicevic and Niall Crocker would pick up the helpers.

Tomas Mrsic would give Prince Albert their first lead of the night at the 12:07 mark with his 29th goal of the season, firing a wrist shot home from the slot. Crocker and Aiden Oiring would pick up the helpers.

Less than two minutes later, Niall Crocker would strike on the power play putting home a loose puck just outside the crease for his 18th goal of the campaign. Dube and Oiring had the assists

“The guys at the top did a really good job moving the puck.” Crocker explained. “They were pressuring pretty hard and I’m not sure who found that lane down on the bottom, but Dube made a good pass to me. It was nice to get that one for sure.”

Aiden Oiring would put the game away for Prince Albert with an empty net goal. Mrsic had the lone assist.

Max Hildebrand made 31 saves to earn the victory in net for Prince Albert. Brendan Gee made 26 stops for the Wild.

The Raiders will hit the road next week beginning with a Wednesday night stop in Calgary. Puck drops at 8 p.m. Saskatchewan time

NEWS AND NOTES

For the second time this season, Max Hildebrand has been named the WHL Goaltender of the Week. Hildebrand posted a 2-0-0-0 record with a 2.00 Goals Against Average and a .939 save percentage in two starts against Wenatchee and Regina. The 20-year-old Bemidji State commit has won eight straight appearances dating back to Jan. 11.

sports@paherald.sk.ca

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