Hadland scores twice, Wheat Kings top Raiders 5-3
The Prince Albert Raiders couldn’t find a late game tying goal on Saturday night, as they fell to the Brandon Wheat Kings 5-3 at the Art Hauser Centre.
Brandon took a 2-1 lead after the opening 20 minutes, but their first goal of the game came early, as they struck at the 3:03 mark. Spinning around in the slot, Prabh Bhathal fired a shot that beat Max Hildebrand on the glove side. It was Bhathal’s first Western Hockey League goal, and it put the visitors up 1-0.
Prince Albert responded just over 10 minutes later to tie the game, as Niall Crocker scored on the powerplay. Tomas Mrsic passed the puck up to the point for Lukas Dragicevic, and the blueliner fired a shot on goal. Crocker was parked in front of the net, and was able to get his stick on the shot to redirect it past Alex Garrett. Crocker grabbed his 14th goal of the season to make it a 1-1 game.
With 48 seconds left in the opening frame, the Wheat Kings took the lead back, as Caleb Hadland snuck a puck in. After Hildebrand made an initial save, there was just enough room for the rebound to go in, and Hadland found that spot, scoring his 14th of the season.
After the opening 20 minutes, Brandon took their one goal lead into the second intermission. The Wheat Kings also put up 15 shots in the period, and when Hildebrand made his 11th save of the game, he reached 3,000 saves in his WHL career.
Four goals were scored in the second period, with both teams scoring twice. 1:24 into the middle frame, Brayden Dube skated hard into the Brandon zone to forecheck a Wheat Kings defender beneath the goal line. He stripped the puck away and fed a quick pass in front to Aiden Oiring, and the Raider centerman fired a shot far side past Garrett. His 16th of the season brought the Raiders back to a tie game, as it became 2-2.
Brandon scored the next two goals, as Marcus Nguyen and Jaxon Jacobson scored just under four minutes apart. Nguyen picked up his 20th goal of the year, while Jacobson scored his sixth, as the Wheat Kings jumped out to a 4-2 lead. Jacobson’s goal was a powerplay marker, the first powerplay goal of the game for Brandon.
Justice Christensen cut into the deficit with 47 seconds left in the second. After a Wheat Kings defenceman rimmed the puck around the left wall, the Raider captain held the puck in at the blue line. He then stepped into a wrist shot that worked its way through traffic in front and past Garrett. The Raider captain picked up his ninth goal of the season, and more importantly, gave the Raiders life at the end of the period as his tally made it a 4-3 game after 40 minutes.
The Raiders fought hard to find the equalizer in the third period, outshooting Brandon 14-6 in the final 20 minutes, but Garrett stopped everything he saw. Hadland buried an empty net goal from his own end of the ice for his second goal of the game with 15 seconds left in the game to give the Wheat Kings a 5-3 win.
The Raiders hit the road to Alberta next week for a three game road trip. They return home on January 14th against the Portland Winterhawks.