Playoff positioning still up in the air as Raiders fall 3-2 in Brandon
The Prince Albert Raiders couldn’t find a way to win on Saturday night, as they narrowly fell 3-2 to the Brandon Wheat Kings at Westoba Place. The loss means the Raiders will have to wait until Wednesday at the earliest to clinch a playoff spot. They will need some help from the Lethbridge Hurricanes tomorrow, as they face the Calgary Hitmen who currently occupy the ninth seed, just five points back of the Raiders. Calgary has four games left in their schedule including tomorrow’s game, while the Raiders have three games remaining.
The Raiders opened the scoring with 10:06 to go in the first period thanks to Justice Christensen. After the Raider defenceman dumped the puck into the corner in the Brandon zone, Niall Crocker chased it down and gained possession. Crocker fed a pass right back to Christensen at the point, who then sniped a shot past Carson Bjarnason for the game’s opening goal. Christensen scored his second goal in as many games to give Prince Albert a 1-0 lead on his 12th goal of the season.
Brandon tied the game on a five on three powerplay with Eric Johnston and Sloan Stanick in the penalty box. Good puck movement ended up with Brett Hyland feeding Jayden Wiens on the doorstep, who was able to tap home his 24th goal of the season to make it a 1-1 game.
The Wheat Kings took their first lead of the night with 4:57 left in the first, as Dominik Petr capitalized on a Raider turnover in the PA zone. From the slot, Petr gathered and fired a shot past Max Hildebrand on the blocker side to make it a 2-1 game on his 17th goal.
It looked like Prince Albert was going to tie the game on a powerplay of their own later in the opening frame, but Bjarnason had other ideas in the Wheat Kings net. Sloan Stanick ripped a one timer on goal from the left circle that Bjarnason got a piece of, but the puck bounced off him and was slowly drifting in the air towards the net. Bjarnason looked back and swatted it away with his paddle with the puck still in the air right above the goal line, keeping it a 1-1 game.
That save, along with back to back Brandon goals meant the Raiders went into the second period trailing by a 2-1 score.
The only goal of the second period belonged to the Wheat Kings, as Nolan Flamand gave the home club a two goal lead. Rylen Roersma circled behind the net and threw the puck in front of the net. It came loose to Flamand, who had to shoot from an awkward angle, but he found the back of the net to score his 19th goal of the season.
After 40 minutes, the Raiders were left in the same position as last night, trailing 3-1 entering the third period.
Aiden Oiring made it a one goal game with 8:03 left in the third, as he found the back of the net for the 18th time this season. From behind the net, Ryder Ritchie put a perfect pass onto the tape of Oiring, and he was able to release a quick shot to the top corner past Bjarnason, making it a 3-2 contest.
Unfortunately, Prince Albert was unable to generate any more goals from there, as they fell by a 3-2 final, dropping their third game in a row.
The green and gold are back in action on Wednesday night on home ice as they welcome the Regina Pats.
