Hurricanes Blitz Raiders on Friday
Lethbridge, AB – The Lethbridge Hurricanes welcomed the Prince Albert Raiders for the first time this season on Friday as they earned a convincing 6-1 victory at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena.
Lethbridge hosted their Hurricanes Wall of Honour Night inducting Herb Beswick into the Builder’s Category and Corey Lyons and Ben Wright into the Player’s Category prior to the game. The ‘Canes came out flying and jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just 1:57 into the game when Carsen Adair wired home his first WHL goal from the left circle beating Max Hildebrand over the glove to give the Hurricanes an early lead; Brayden Yager and Leo Braillard picked up the assists on the goal. Prince Albert came close to tying the game at the midway point of the period when Harrison Lodewyk hit the crossbar behind Jackson Unger as it stayed 1-0 ‘Canes. Lethbridge doubled their lead at the 13:28 mark when Yager ripped home his 19th goal of the season to make it 2-0; Tristen Doyle and Shane Smith earned the assists on the goal. The Hurricanes dominated the first period outshooting the Raiders 12-4 in the first period.
The Hurricanes added to their lead early in the second period when Kooper Gizowski ended a 10-game goal drought when he centered the puck from the left-wing and it deflected off the defender and into the net. The play continued for 42-seconds before they stopped play to rule it a goal to give the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead; for Gizowski, it was his eighth of the season to end a 10-game goal drought. Prince Albert cut the lead back to two when Lukas Dragicevic scored his 11th goal of the year while four-on-four to make it 3-1. The ‘Canes doubled the Raiders in shots 16-8 in the middle frame.
In the third period, the Hurricanes made it a 4-1 game with an early power play goal by Noah Chadwick who ripped home his 11th goal of the year just 2:06 into the period; Yager and Brayden Edwards earned the assists on the goal. Lethbridge doubled down on the man advantage just over seven-minutes later when Braillard ripped home his team-leading 10th power play goal – and 20th goal of the year – to cap off a three-way passing play giving the ‘Canes a 5-1 advantage; Chadwick and Yager were credited with the assists. The Hurricanes added another goal while shorthanded with 6:33 remaining in the game when Shane Smith buried his eighth goal from a pass from Yager who completed a five-point night giving Lethbridge a 6-1 lead. The ‘Canes outshot the Raiders 9-6 in the third period en route to the win.
The Hurricanes outshot the Raiders 37-18 in the game. Lethbridge went 2/4 on the power play while going 3/3 on the penalty kill.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #29 Brayden Yager (1 goal, 4 assists)
2) ‘Canes – #28 Leo Braillard (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) ‘Canes – #4 Carsen Adair (1st WHL goal)
The win for the Hurricanes ended a two-game home losing streak as they improved to 18-5-1-0 at home this year. Lethbridge’s overall record lifted to 31-16-1-1 on the season as their record against East Division opponents improved to 14-3-0-0 this season. The ‘Canes improved to 12-2-0-0 in their last 14 games with the victory.
The Hurricanes will visit the Red Deer Rebels on Saturday at 7:00pm at Peavey Mart Centrium in the first of two-straight on the road. Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Wednesday, February 12th when they host the Rebels at 7:00pm. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Yates Memorial Theatre or VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
