Raiders’ Allan finding timely offensive touch

D-man nets late third period goal in 1-0 win over Blades

The Raiders celebrate Nolan Allan’s winning goal on Saturday.

Nolan Allan is all about defence first and offensive flurries do not mean he is trying to rediscover his playing form from hockey days in younger age groups.

When offensive flurries and moments do come for the veteran defenceman, they are a bonus.

On Saturday night at the SaskTel Centre, the 18-year-old Davidson, Sask., product’s one offensive moment proved to be enough to push his Prince Albert Raiders to victory. With the Raiders locked in a 0-0 tie with the host Saskatoon Blades, the visitors were pressing for the contest’s first tally with less than eight minutes remaining in the third period just after a power play expired.

Raiders left-winger Sloan Stanick had the puck by the right boards in the Saskatoon zone.

Nolan Allan had the Raiders lone goal in a 1-0 win.

He passed the puck to Allan, who was positioned for a midrange shot from the centre of the Saskatoon goal. Allan blasted home his fourth of the season to the top right corner of the Saskatoon net to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead with 7:48 remaining in the frame.

Prince Albert made that 1-0 score hold up as a final to disappoint most of the 4,580 spectators in attendance outside of the healthy contingent of Raiders supporters who made their way to Saturday’s WHL regular season game from “Hockey Town North.”

Out of Allan’s four tallies this season, three of them have been winners. Allan, who was selected in the first round and 32^nd overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks, said it is always great to contribute offensively, but his focus remains in his own zone.

Nolan Allan is best known for his work on defence.

He put up huge offensive numbers coming up through hockey’s younger age groups, but he doesn’t expect those types of seasons to repeat themselves at higher levels of the game.

“I am a defensive first kind of guy,” said Allan, who has 24 assists and 28 points appearing in 52 regular season games for the Raiders. “That is what I will be going up the ladder throughout hockey.

“I think the offensive part of my game is something I want to work on. I am just continuing to do that while playing good defence.”

In the final seconds of Saturday’s contest, Allan showed his abilities in the defensive end coming up with a blocked shot on Blades rookie import right-winger Egor Sidorov.

Nolan Allan made a big shot block in the final seconds of the third.

Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said his club looks to Allan and Allan’s defensive partner in Landon Kosior to come through for the team in lots of different situations.

“Him (Allan) and (Landon) Kosior for sure, they’ve been our two best defencemen,” said Habscheid. “They log a lot of minutes, and they get a lot of responsibility.

“To whom much is given much is expected. They’ve come through most nights, so they’ve been real good for us.”

Habscheid said Allan, who stands 6-foo-2 and weighs 184 pounds, can contribute on the offensive end, but the veteran bench boss, who sits fifth all-time in WHL regular season wins with 577 victories, is pleased to see standout rearguard is self-aware about focusing on the defensive end first.

Nolan Allan has 28 points in 52 games with the Raiders this season.

“He (Allan) knows at the next level he is not going to lead the league (in scoring),” said Habscheid. “If he is going to play in the NHL, it is going to be as a defender first pass, block shots and play good defensively.

“When he gets a chance to make passes and plays, he can do that. His strength is as a defender.”

The Blades came out with a lot of jump and had a big scoring chance early on a two-on-break with star centre Tristen Robins breaking down the right wing with the puck and star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic coming down left wing.

Tikhon Chaika made 31 saves in goal for the Raiders.

Robins wired a shot on goal, but he was turned away by Raiders import rookie Tikhon Chaika. The rebound from the shot went to Crnkovic, but he was turned away by Chaika too.

Allan said Chaika has kept constantly getting better as the season has gone on.

“He (Chaika) has been huge for us,” said Allan, who has a minus-one rating in the plus-minus department this season logging a tonne of minutes for the Raiders. “Without him, we wouldn’t be in a lot of games.

“We’re a pretty defensive team. We don’t score a whole tonne, but we don’t give up a whole lot either. He (Chaika) is a huge part of our group and the reason why we win a lot of games.”

Nolan Maier, right, made 28 saves for the Blades.

With 4:10 remaining in the first, the Raiders broke into the Blades zone on a three-on-one. Raiders centre Hayden Pakkala had a big chance to score in front of the Saskatoon goal, but he was stoned by Blades overage star netminder Nolan Maier.

Maier came up big again turning away Raiders right-winger Carson Latimer on a point blank chance with 90 seconds remaining in the first.

With 3.8 seconds remaining in the first, Blades overage defenceman Rhett Rhinehart nailed Raiders left-winger Sloan Stanick hard into the right wing boards in the Prince Albert zone by the blue-line. Raiders star right-winger Ozzy Wiesblatt took exception to the hit and engaged Rhinehart in a fight.

Tristen Robins had a big early scoring chance for the Blades.

The two had a short fight with Rhinehart getting in the majority of the hard shots. Wiesblatt left the game and did not return appearing to favour his left wrist.

The opening frame was pretty free flowing and wide opening with the Blades holding a 16-13 edge in shots on goal, but both the Blades and Raiders were unable to crack the scoreboard.

The two clubs played a more under control second frame with the Blades holding a 9-8 edge in shots on goal. Saskatoon had just under six minutes of power-play time in the second but the game remained tied at 0-0 thanks to the efforts of Chaika and Maier.

Blades D Rhett Rhinehart tangled with Raiders RW Ozzy Wiesblatt.

Going into the third, Allan said a strong feeling began to develop that Saturday’s contest would have a 1-0 final score.

“The goalies were playing good,” said Allan. “It was just a chippy game.

“Both teams are just battling hard. Neither team could find the back of the net. Once it got down there, it was just kind of looking like it was going to be low scoring.”

Early in the third, Raiders rookie import left-winger Vladislav Shilo broke down the right wing and cut across the front of the Saskatoon goal for a scoring chance, but he was turned away by Maier.

Near the midway point of the frame, Sidorov broke into the Prince Albert zone on a breakaway, but he was unable to get off a shot after being poke checked by Chaika.

Egor Sidorov was foiled on some big scoring chances.

That set the scene for Allan’s heroics at the end.

Maier turned away 28 shots to take the setback in net for the Blades (32-19-3-1). Chaika stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders (23-28-3-1).

The shutout was the third of the campaign for Chaika, and all of those shutouts have occurred during the Raiders last eight games.

After falling to the Blades 3-2 in overtime at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert on Friday night, Allan said it was important to bounce back with a win on Saturday night.

“We are battling for every point we can get in this playoff race,” said Allan, whose team sits eighth overall and holds at the moment the final playoff berth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference. “We are doing everything we can.

Raiders fans cheer their team’s game winning goal.

“It sucks not being able to get a full two points last night, but you know to come out here and battle against these guys hard and get the two points is huge.”

The Blades return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Red Deer take on the Rebels (7 p.m. Red Deer time, Peavey Mart Centrium).

The Raiders, who have points in their last five straight games with four wins and an extra time setback, get back at it on Wednesday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre).

Habscheid said his team needs to keep finding different ways to win night in and night out to keep their current roll going.

“It is a result oriented business,” said Habscheid. “It is about winning.

The Raiders celebrate their win on Saturday night.

“Obviously at this level, you want to develop these young guys. It is about winning too, and you have to find ways to win. If you are not going to score a lot, you have to defend, but you have to score some, so there has to be a balance in giving the guys opportunities to score too.

“Then, your special teams have to be good. You just try to find ways.”

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