Nightmare second does in Raiders against Broncos

Raiders D Nolan Allan, left, and Broncos C Mathew Ward chase the puck.

PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. - A delete the video type second period did in the Prince Albert Raiders.

The Raiders went into the second frame of a WHL regular season contest locked in a 2-2 tie with the visiting Swift Current Broncos on Wednesday night. The Broncos rolled off three goals in the second period to power their way to a 6-3 victory to disappoint most of 2,146 spectators at the Art Hauser Centre.

Raiders 19-year-old centre Evan Herman said setbacks like the one his club experienced on Wednesday to the Broncos are tough to take. Both Raiders and Broncos are part of a group of five teams battling for the final two playoff berths in the WHL’s Eastern Conference.

Isaac Poulter, left, makes one of his 38 saves for the Broncos.

When it comes to the playoff race, Herman said you can feel the urgency in games like the one against the Broncos.

“These are four point games,” said Herman. “It is really tight in the standings.

“There is not much more to say than that. That was a must win for us. When you let that one go, it is even more of an uphill battle here to close in on the final stretch.”

The Raiders came into Wednesday’s gave having posted four wins and an overtime setback in their five previous outings. While the Prince Albert side had been rolling, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid his squad came down to earth in the loss to the Broncos.

Kayden Sadhra-Kang scored the Broncos first goal on Wednesday.

“Sometimes you’ll get a thud,” said Habscheid. “Tonight was the thud I thought.

“I thought we were ready, but their pucks found a way in, and we made some just horrendous mistakes and ended up in our net.”

The opening 20 minutes of Wednesday’s contest were played in a back-and-forth fashion.

Raiders right-winger Niall Crocker had a chance early in the first to put the hosts ahead but he was stopped in alone in close by Broncos overage netminder Isaac Poulter.

Shortly past the midway point of the first, Broncos right-winger Raphael Pelletier wired a shot from the left boards off the post of the Prince Albert goal.

Evan Herman gave the Raiders a short-lived lead.

The Broncos broke through on the scoreboard at the 11:31 mark of the first. Pinching Broncos defenceman Kayden Sadhra-Kang fired home a shot from the left slot after collecting a rebound from a shot taken by Pelletier.

About two-and-a-half minutes later, the Raiders evened the score at 1-1, when left-winger Sloan Stanick potted his 18^th goal of the season off a net scramble.

With 4:14 remaining in the first, things got testy as Raiders centre Hayden Pakkala hit a Swift Current player from behind into the boards in the Broncos zone. Broncos defenceman Sam McGinley immediately came in and hit Pakkala from behind and a scrum ensued.

During the scrum, Poulter came into the scrum and grabbed a Raiders player.

Carter Stebbings scored the Broncos second goal on Wednesday.

Pakkala was given a major for checking from behind and a game misconduct. His major penalty will be automatically reviewed by the WHL office for a possible suspension.

McGinley was given a cross-checking minor and a 10-minute misconduct, and Poulter got a minor for leaving his crease.

On the ensuing Raiders four-versus-three power play, Herman one-timed a set up pass from offensive-defenceman Landon Kosior to give the hosts a 2-1 lead.

Just 44 seconds later, the Broncos evened the score at 2-2, when Swift Current right-winger Carter Stebbings fired home a power-play goal off a rush down the right wing on a five-on-four man advantage.

The Broncos celebrate the first of two Karson King (#18) goals.

“We made mistakes that we just can’t from older guys,” said Habscheid. “It is an interesting league, because in the NHL you get four or five years difference it is not a big deal, but in junior it is.

“It is a 19 and 20-year-old league, and you need those guys to play. We had some older guys that didn’t play worth a darn tonight. We need them.

“They have to play better.”

In the second, the Broncos hit high gear while the wheels fell off for the Raiders. Just over six minutes into the second, Broncos 17-year-old rookie right-winger Karson King scored two goals coming 11 second apart from each other to put the visitors up 4-2.

Max Hildebrand saw relief duty in goal for the Raiders.

The Raiders pulled import rookie netminder Tikhon Chaika after King’s second tally. Chaika turned away 8-of-12 shots fired his way to take the loss in goal for the Raiders (23-29-3-1). Max Hildebrand played the rest of the way in relief for the Raiders stopping 8-of-9 shots fired his way.

With 6:19 remaining in the second, the Broncos stuck for their second power-play goal of the contest. Standout Swift Current centre Mathew Ward fired home a shot from the right boards to extend the Broncos lead to 5-2.

Habscheid said the Raiders didn’t get the effort they needed from their goaltending or defence on Wednesday.

“He (Chaika) wasn’t very good,” said Habscheid. “Hilty (Max Hildebrand) let one in that wasn’t very good, and I thought four of our D were terrible to be quite honest.

Raphael Pelletier scored an empty-net goal for the Broncos.

“Two were real good. Out of the other four, one was really bad tonight. It was just not real good timing.”

Nolan Allan rounded out the Raiders scoring netting his fifth of the season with 3:16 remaining in the third. Pelletier closed out the Broncos scoring with an empty-net goal with 62 seconds remaining in the third.

Poulter turned away 38 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Broncos (21-30-5-2).

The Broncos get back at it on Friday when they host the Medicine Hat Tigers (7 p.m., Innovation Credit Union i-Plex).

The Broncos celebrate their win on Wednesday.

The Raiders are off until on Saturday when they host their archrivals the Saskatoon Blades (7 p.m., Art Hauser Centre). Herman is expecting his Raiders will have a strong bounce back effort against the Blades.

“They are our rival,” said Herman. “Every time we play our biggest rival, it should be pretty easy to get yourself psyched up for the game.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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