Hurricanes End Trip with 5-1 Loss to Raiders
Prince Albert, SK – The Lethbridge Hurricanes ended a three-game East Division road trip with a 5-1 loss to the Prince Albert Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre.
The ‘Canes entered on a three-game losing streak after suffering a pair of lopsided losses to the Brandon Wheat Kings and Saskatoon Blades to open their road trip. Lethbridge had a good start to the game against the East Division leading Raiders as Owen Berge buried a rebound for his eighth goal of the season to make it 1-0 just 2:43 into the game; Kayden Longley and Fraser Leonard picked up the assists on the goal as Leonard now has two points in two games with the ‘Canes. Prince Albert pulled even at the 7:01 mark when Aiden Oiring tapped home a centering pass from Brayden Dube to tie the game with his 12th goal of the year which also was the Raiders Teddy Bear Toss goal. The Raiders kept the Hurricanes hemmed in their own zone for a large part of the period and struck on a power play at the 16:16 mark as Daxon Rudolph had a shot deflect off Matteo Fabrizi and past Koen Cleaver – who made 20-saves in the opening period – to give Prince Albert a 2-1 lead after twenty minutes. The Raiders more than tripled the Hurricanes in shots outshooting Lethbridge 22-6 in the first period.
Prince Albert kept their foot on the gas in the second period striking for three more goals to expand their lead to four goals after two periods. The Raiders made it a 3-1 game just 1:54 into the period when Ty Meunier blasted home his sixth goal of the season; Riley Boychuk and Benett Kelly picked up the assists on the goal. Kelly scored his third goal of the year with a slapshot from the blueline at the midway point of the period beating a screened Cleaver to make it a 4-1 contest. Cleaver made a glorious stop with a glove save robbing Maddix McCagherty of a goal. Prince Albert added another goal at the 14:10 mark when Oiring scored a beautiful goal deking home his 13th goal of the year – and second of the game – to make it 5-1 Raiders; Linden Burrett and Max Heise earned the assists on the goal. Prince Albert outshot Lethbridge 11-5 in the second period as the ‘Canes trailed the game by four goals for the third-straight game.
In the third period, the Hurricanes had a pair of early power play opportunities in the first five minutes of the frame, but couldn’t solve Steele Bass in the Raiders net as the Raiders held their four-goal lead. Leif Oaten replaced Cleaver for the final twenty minutes and made a strong save at the midway point stopping Brock Cripps on a Prince Albert power play. The Hurricanes ended the game on a man advantage when Burrett was assessed a tripping penalty, but Lethbridge was unable to solve Bass again falling 5-1 to the Raiders to end their road trip with a loss.
The Hurricanes were outshot 40-19 by the Raiders in the game. Lethbridge went 0/4 on the power play while Prince Albert was 1/5 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Raiders – #19 Aiden Oiring (2 goals)
2) Raiders – #6 Benett Kelly (1 goal, 1 assist)
3) Raiders – #35 Steele Bass (17 saves)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their fourth-straight defeat as they go 0-3-0-0 on their three-game East Division road trip. Lethbridge’s record fell to 10-22-0-1 on the season as their road record slipped to 5-13-0-0 this year. The ‘Canes struggles against the East Division continues as they fall to 2-9-0-0 in 11 games this season.
Lethbridge will return to the VisitLethbridge.com Arena on Tuesday, December 16th at 7:00pm when they welcome the Edmonton Oil Kings in their final game before the Christmas break. Tickets for the game can be purchased by visiting the VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
