Thomson Stellar in Shutout Win Over Raiders
Prince Albert, SK – The Lethbridge Hurricanes earned their second-straight victory on Friday defeating the Prince Albert Raiders 3-0 at the Art Hauser Centre.
It was the final of four meetings on the season between the Hurricanes and Raiders which saw the home team win the first three meetings. Lethbridge had a great start to the game outshooting Prince Albert 4-0 in the early going aided by an early power play but couldn’t solve Max Hildebrand to open the scoring. The Raiders had a handful of good looks in the opening frame outshooting the Hurricanes 11-6 in the period, but Bryan Thomson stood tall turning aside all 11 Prince Albert shots as the first period came to a scoreless end.
The Raiders had a flurry of chances early in the second period, including a trio of odd man rushes but Prince Albert couldn’t solve Thomson who made four wonderful saves in the early going to keep the game scoreless. Midway through the frame, the ‘Canes found the icebreaker when Tyson Laventure centered a pass that deflected off a Raider defenceman and passed Hildebrand to make it a 1-0 lead; Logan Wormald and Joe Arntsen earned the assists on the goal which was Laventure’s 20th of the season. Lethbridge doubled their lead at the 18:39 mark as Brayden Edwards stripped Landon Kosior in front of the Raider goal before slipping one five-hold for his eighth goal of the season to make it 2-0. The Hurricanes outshot the Raiders 14-9 in the middle frame.
In the third period, the Hurricanes made a 3-0 advantage at the 5:04 mark as Logan McCutcheon pinched to intercept a pass before finding Tyson Zimmer who buried his 16th goal of the year – and 40th point – to give the ‘Canes a comfortable lead. Prince Albert outshot Lethbridge 11-10 in the final period but despite a pair of power plays could not solve Thomson who turned aside all 31 Raider shots en route to the 3-0 win and his third shutout of the season.
The Hurricanes were outshot 31-30 in the game. Lethbridge went 0/5 on the power play while Prince Albert was 0/3 with the extra man.
Three stars of the game were:
1) ‘Canes – #30 Bryan Thomson (31-save shutout)
2) ‘Canes – #19 Brayden Edwards (1 goal)
3) ‘Canes – #21 Tyson Zimmer (1 goal)
The victory for the Hurricanes was their second-straight win improving their road record to 14-12-1-2 on the season. The win lifted the ‘Canes overall record to 32-21-3-3 on the year as they now sit three points back of the Moose Jaw Warriors for fourth place in the Eastern Conference
Lethbridge finished the regular season with a 3-1-0-0 record against the Raiders while the victory ended a five-game losing streak in Prince Albert that dated back to February 27th, 2019.
The Hurricanes will visit the Saskatoon Blades on Saturday at 6:00pm MT at SaskTel Centre in the third of a four-game road trip. The ‘Canes will return to the ENMAX Centre on Friday, March 10th when they welcome the Regina Pats at 7:00pm.
