Prince Albert surges to 5-2 win over Wild
On Saturday night, the Raiders found themselves trailing the visiting Wenatchee Wild 2-1 in the third period of a tightly contested WHL regular season game to that point at the Art Hauser Centre. At the 5:36 mark of the third, Wild defenceman Boston Tait, who is a 15-year-old associate player call up, cleared the puck over the glass from his own zone to draw a delay of game penalty.
On the ensuing power play, the Raiders got buzzing hard in the Wenatchee zone. A short time after Raiders star offensive-defenceman Lukas Dragicevic hit the goalpost, the puck during a scramble got to the stick of Raiders 19-year-old right-winger Brayden Dube.
Dube potted a power-play goal for his 23rd tally on the season to force a 2-2 tie. That goal started the Raiders on a four-goal surge to allow them to post a 5-2 victory to an appreciative crowd of 2,526 spectators.
The win was a third straight for the Raiders, and during their past nine outings, the Raiders have posted eight wins and one shootout loss. Thanks to this hot stretch, the Raiders sit first in the East Division with a 27-15-3-1 mark.
The Raiders sit four standings points ahead of both the Brandon Wheat Kings and Saskatoon Blades, who have identical 24-16-3-3 records. The Wheat Kings hold the standings tiebreaker against the Blades collecting two wins and an overtime setback in the four head-to-head meetings between those two sides. Brandon collected a 5-2 victory over the Pats in Regina on Saturday.
In Saturday’s clash between the Raiders and Wild in Prince Albert, the visitors got out to a good start taking a 2-0 lead in the first period. Wild 18-year-old right-winger Luka Shcherbyna scored at the 3:16 mark, and 19-year-old right-winger Shaun Rios tallied with 2:02 remaining in the frame.
Tait picked up his first career WHL point in his second career WHL regular season game with an assist on Rios’s goal. The young rearguard was selected in the first round and 12th overall by the Wild in last year’s WHL Prospects Draft and has been playing solid minutes with the Regina Pat Canadians under-18 AAA squad. In 35 games with the Pats Canadians this season, Tait has two goals and 18 assists.
He actually had a really good outing on Saturday posting a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department to go with his helper outside of his third period gaff that resulted in a delay of game penalty that the Raiders scored on.
Just 16 seconds after Rios scored to put the Wild ahead 2-0, Raiders captain Justice Christensen one-timed home a shot from the point for his 16th goal of the season that cut the visitor’s lead to 2-1. Raiders rising 16-year-old star defenceman Daxon Rudolph fed Christensen a nice pass that he could drive to the back of the goal.
The Wild proceeded to carry play in the second outshooting the Raiders 15-7 in the frame, but Raiders star 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand held the visitors at bay.
Just past the 10-minute mark of the second, a fight broke out between Wenatchee left-winger Deagan McMillan, who turned 20-years-old last month, and Raiders right-winger Oli Chenier, who recently turned 18-years-old. Chenier likely surprised a few people with how well he could throw punches and got the better of McMillan in the bout.
That set the stage for a strong Raiders finish in the third period that started with Tait taking a delay of game penalty that resulted in Dube’s power-play goal. With 7:53 remaining in the third, Raiders star 18-year-old left-winger Tomas Mrsic blew home his 29th goal of the season from the front of the Wenatchee net to give the Raiders a 3-2 lead.
Shortly after Mrsic’s tally, the Raiders found themselves on the power play once again. With 5:56 remaining in the third, Raiders standout 20-year-old right-winger Niall Crocker scored with the man advantage with one his textbook goals banging home the rebound of one of his own shots from the front of the Wenatchee net. That tally pushed the Raiders advantage out to 4-2.
With 5:23 remaining in the third, the Wild pulled 19-year-old netminder Brendan Gee for an extra attacker. That opened the door for Raiders star 19-year-old centre Aiden Oiring to score into an empty net to give the Raiders a 5-2 lead.
After Gee returned to Wenatchee crease after Oiring scored, Wild 18-year-old left-winger Zane Saab thought he scored with 2:35 remaining in the third to trim the Raiders edge to 5-3. The officials went to a video review and disallowed Saab’s goal ruling it was knocked in with a high stick.
The 5-2 final outcome in the Raiders favour held up the rest of the way. Crocker and Oiring each finished the contest recording one goal and two helpers for the Raiders.
The Raiders went 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Wild failed to score on four opportunities with the man advantage.
Hildebrand stopped 31 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Gee turned away 26-of-30 shots to take the setback in net for the Wild, who fell to 17-26-3-1.
The Wild sit one standings point back of the Kamloops Blazers (18-26-3) and the Seattle Thunderbirds (18-27-2-1) from forcing a three-way tie for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Western Conference.
Wenatchee returns to action on Tuesday, when they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the 11-31-4-2 Warriors (7 p.m., Moose Jaw Events Centre).
The Raiders get back at it on Wednesday when they hit the road to face the Hitmen in Calgary (7 p.m. local time, Scotiabank Saddledome).
Thunderbirds end Tigers winning streak at 12,
other notes
The scrappy Seattle Thunderbirds went the distance to earn a much needed win as they continue to fight for a post-season berth.
On Saturday at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., the Tigers and Thunderbirds went through regulation and overtime locked in a 3-3 tie in a WHL regular season clash. They then ventured through a marathon tiebreaking shootout that lasted 11 rounds.
Ultimately, the Thunderbirds claimed the tiebreaking shootout 4-3 to also post a 4-3 victory in the overall contest.
The result brought an end to the Tigers 12 game winning streak. The extra time setback also closed the Tigers six-game road trip through the U.S. Division, where they won the first five games of that jaunt.
With the win, the Thunderbirds improved to 18-27-2-1 to equal the Kamloops Blazers (18-26-3) at 39 standings points for eighth place and the final playoff berth in the Western Conference. The Blazers have one game in hand on the Thunderbirds.
If there is a tie between two teams for the final conference playoff berth in the WHL, the two squads that are in the deadlock would play a tiebreaking game.
Saturday’s clash between the Tigers and Thunderbirds got off to a spirited start with Tigers 18-year-old defenceman Bryce Pickford and Thunderbirds 17-year-old defenceman Jaxson Pawlenchuk engaging in a fight at the 2:52 mark of the opening frame.
The two squads then played through a scoreless opening 20 minutes with the Tigers holding a 14-10 edge in shots on goal.
In the second, Coster Dunn and Matej Pekar netting singles to give the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead. With 2:54 remaining in the second, Tigers star 19-year-old left-winger Hunter St. Martin scored his 31st goal of the season to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 2-1.
St. Martin proceeded to add his 32nd goal of the campaign and second tally of the night at the 9:48 mark of the third to even the score at 2-2.
With 7:07 remaining in the third, Tigers superstar left-winger Gavin McKenna potted his 27th goal of the season to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
That advantage didn’t hold. With 5:37 remaining in the third, Thunderbirds overage centre Hayden Pakkala netted the equalizer during a net scramble to force a 3-3 tie.
During the tiebreaking shootout, Oasiz Wiesblatt, Liam Ruck and Marcus Pacheco scored for the Tigers. Braeden Cootes, Nathan Pilling, Colton Gerrior and Radim Mrtka scored for the Thunderbirds, with Mrtka’s tally holding up as the shootout winner.
Jordan Switzer started in goal for the Tigers and played the first two periods turning away 22-of-24 shots he faced. He was pulled for a suspected leg injury.
Harrison Meneghin played the rest of the way for the Tigers taking the extra time setback. He turned away 14-of-15 shots in the third period and overtime and 7-of-11 shooters in the shootout.
Scott Ratzlaff stopped 31 shots over 65 minutes and turned away 8-of-11 shooters in the shootout.
Medicine Hat was without star defenceman Tanner Molendyk due to an undisclosed ailment.
The Tigers are off until Friday when they host the Swift Current Broncos (7 p.m., Co-op Place).
The Thunderbirds also get back at it on Friday when they host the Spokane Chiefs (7 p.m. local time, Accesso ShoWare Center).
- On Saturday, Andrew Cristall recorded one goal, five assists and a plus-five rating in the plus-minus department as his Spokane Chiefs hammered the WHL leading Silvertips in Everett 10-3. The Silvertips have lost their last two games by a combined score of 17-6 having dropped a 7-3 decision to the Tigers on Wednesday.
- On Saturday, Cameron Schmidt recorded one goal, three assists and a plus-two rating as his Vancouver Giants thumped the visiting Kamloops Blazers 9-2. The Giants went 3-for-4 on the power play in the contest.
- On Saturday, Marek Rocak record one goal, two assists and a plus-two rating as his Swift Current Broncos doubled up the Rockets in Kelowna 6-3. Jackson Gillespie recorded two goals, one assist and a plus-three rating for the Rockets in the loss.
- On Saturday, netminder Ethan Simcoe made 35 saves to pick up a shutout victory as his Edmonton Oil Kings blanked the Hurricanes in Lethbridge 2-0. Marshall Finnie had a goal and an assist for the Oil Kings.
- On Saturday, the Red Deer Rebels blanked the Moose Jaw Warriors 3-0; the Victoria Royals slipped past the Portland Winterhawks 2-1; the Prince George Cougars downed the Tri-City Americans 5-2; and the Brandon Wheat Kings dumped the Regina Pats 5-2.
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