Raiders rebound, romp over Oil Kings 6-1 in Game 2

First round WHL post-season series even up at 1-1

The Raiders celebrate a goal by Lukas Dragicevic (#3) on Saturday.

PRINCE ALBERT – Rilen Kovacevic thought experience was the best teacher.

The 20-year-old winger helped the Moose Jaw Warriors win their first WHL championship in May of 2024. Now playing for the Prince Albert Raiders, Kovacevic saw his squad fall 3-1 to the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday night at the Art Hauser Centre in Game 1 of a best-of-seven first round series in the WHL Playoffs.

Having a league title run under his belt, Kovacevic thought the best course of action was not to say anything going into Game 2 on Saturday.

“I kind of just let the first game go,” said Kovacevic, who was traded by the Warriors to the Raiders on January 7. “It is better to let the guys get their feet wet.

Justice Christensen (#7) had the Raiders first goal on Saturday.

“As we progress, it is easier for me to step in and use my voice, but it is all about learning.”

The Kelowna, B.C., product’s line of thinking proved to be the correct line of thinking. His Raiders posted a resounding 6-1 rebound victory in Game 2 on Saturday before a raucous standing room crowd of 2,852 spectators at the 2,580 seat Art Hauser Centre. The win allowed the Raiders to even the series up 1-1.

“It was a learning curve last night,” said Kovacevic. “I think we just kind of were stepping on our own toes a little bit.

“It is only going to get better, and we have a really solid group of top guys that are going to lead us there.”

Rilen Kovacevic broke a lengthy goal scoring drought on Saturday.

While the Raiders would post a big win, the Oil Kings came flying out of the gate on Saturday holding a 19-6 edge in shots on goal in the first period with a number of shots coming off two power-play chances. Raiders star 20-year-old netminder Max Hildebrand turned away everything that came his way in the opening 20 minutes to allow his teammates to get their skating legs under them.

With 35.6 seconds remaining in the opening frame, the Raiders changed the momentum of the contest seemingly out of nowhere. Working the puck in the Edmonton zone, Raiders breakout rookie defenceman Daxon Rudolph passed the puck from the right point to the top of the left faceoff circle to Prince Albert captain Justice Christensen.

Lukas Sawchyn scored for the Oil Kings on Saturday.

Christensen one-timed a shot home to put the Raiders up 1-0 heading into the first intermission.

“(Christensen’s) goal kind of turned the tide for us, and we got going after that,” said Hildebrand. “We probably have to be a bit more disciplined to start the game.”

Just 2:35 into the second, the Raiders pushed their lead out to 2-0. Raiders rookie defenceman Linden Burrett had the puck at the right side boards in the Edmonton zone and slipped a backdoor pass to Kovacevic positioned at the left post of the Oil Kings net. Kovacevic made no mistake in tapping home the puck for his first goal in 15 games for the Raiders.

Niall Crocker had two goals for the Raiders on Saturday.

Before that tally, Kovacevic’s last goal came way back on February 8 in a 5-4 overtime victory over the Tigers in Medicine Hat. During the regular season, Kovacevic collected 26 goals and 33 assists in 60 games split between the Warriors and Raiders. He was pleased to be able to break his goal scoring drought.

“I found a good step tonight,” said Kovacevic. “I thought I was pretty solid last night, but it is going to get better as we go.”

At the 6:01 mark of the second, the Oil King struck on the power play to cut the Raiders lead to 2-1. Oil Kings star import centre Adam Jecho had the puck along the left side boards deep in the Prince Albert zone and made a backdoor pass across the face of the Raiders net to Oil King star right-winger Lukas Sawchyn positioned at the right post.

Max Hildebrand makes one of his 42 saves in goal for the Raiders.

Sawchyn’s first shot was stopped by a sprawling Hildebrand, but the skilled rookie popped home his own rebound to trim the Raiders advantage to one goal.

Just a little over three-and-a-half minutes later, the Raiders struck for a power-play goal. Raiders star left-winger Tomas Mrsic had the puck at the left wing boards and he put a slick pass on the stick of 20-year-old star left-winger Niall Crocker, who was stationed in front of the Edmonton net. Crocker showed some soft hands sliding home a power-play goal to push the Raiders lead out to 3-1.

The hosts proceeded to open the flood gates in the third. Just 3:04 into the frame, Crocker banged home his second goal of the night from the front of the Edmonton net to give the Raiders a 4-1 advantage.

Aiden Oiring had the Raiders fifth goal on Saturday.

Raiders star centre Aiden Oiring popped home a shot close in at the right side of the Edmonton net at the 7:48 mark of the third to put Prince Albert up 5-1. Raiders star defenceman Lukas Dragicevic rounded out the game’s scoring firing home a midrange shot on the power play with 7:34 remaining in the third.

At that point, frustration started to take over for some members of the Oil Kings. Just 23 seconds after Dragicevic’s goal, Burrett and Oil Kings rookie right-winger Jack Toogood engaged in a fight.

With 4:05 remaining in the third, Oil Kings overage centre Marshall Finnie was given a 10-minute misconduct for getting a little too loose with his lips on the ice. Finnie left the ice and departed to the Oil Kings dressing room to a standing ovation from the Raiders faithful.

Lukas Dragicevic had one goal and two assists on Saturday.

Hildebrand said it was important for his side to stay out of the extracurricular activities that occur on the ice.

“We just have to worry about ourselves and not them and just keep playing our game every game,” said Hildebrand. “We have to stay even keel, and that is going to be a big thing for us this series.”

Hildebrand stopped 42 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Raiders. Alex Worthington turned away 20 shots to take the setback in net for the Oil Kings.

Dragicevic had a pair of assists to go with his goal, and Rudolph had three helpers to go with a plus-two rating in the plus-minus department.

Prince Albert was 2-for-4 on the power play, while Edmonton was 1-for-9 with the man advantage.

Oil Kings RW Jack Toogood, left, fights Raiders D Linden Burrett.

Raiders interim head coach Ryan McDonald was pleased to see a number of his players have big games.

“I thought we had a really good group effort,” said McDonald. “Hilty (Hildebrand) stood tall back there.

“Our PK guys, they ate lots of pucks. They had great sticks and had some great stands on the blue line. We took advantage of the opportunities when they came.

“I thought it was a really good group effort. Our goals came off of resetting pucks back underneath the play.”

The Raiders entered the series having won the WHL’s East Division title with a 39-23-5-1 mark. 

Daxon Rudolph had three assists for the Raiders on Saturday.

The Oil Kings were seventh overall in the Eastern Conference with a 37-27-2-2 mark.

The series how switches to Edmonton. Game 3 is set for Tuesday and Game 4 follows on Wednesday at 7 p.m. local time both nights at Rogers Place. 

Kovacevic said his club is gunning to take both of those games on the road.

“Our goal is to go and win two there,” said Kovacevic. “We want to come back and be able to finish it off at our rink.

“What happened will be what happens. We got home ice for a reason. We’re happy with the split, honestly.

The Raiders salute the Art Hauser Centre faithful after their win.

“There is nothing I’d change. I think it is a good learning curve that first game, and we have an opportunity to go in there and steal a couple.”

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

-------                                                                

If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.