Prince Albert’s comeback falls short in 5-4 loss to Warriors
Prince Albert nearly came back from a 4-0 deficit on Sunday afternoon in Moose Jaw, but the Warriors were able to survive a late surge to beat the Raiders 5-4 at the Moose Jaw Events Centre.
The Warriors jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead 9:30 into the game. Jagger Firkus started things off with a goal at the 4:01 mark of the first period. Lynden Lakovic followed that up with a goal of his own just 1:25 later. At the 9:30 mark of the opening frame, Firkus scored his second goal of the game on a shorthanded breakaway to give Moose Jaw a three goal lead.
The Raiders were outshot 14-6 in the first period, and had some work to do the rest of the way, trailing 3-0 after 20 minutes.
Denton Mateychuk extended Moose Jaw’s lead to 4-0 just 3:40 into the second period, stepping into a shot from the slot that beat Max Hildebrand for his third goal of the season.
The Raiders mounted a small comeback in the middle frame, scoring two straight goals less than three minutes apart. Matej Kubiesa got the green and gold on the board, scoring on a breakaway. The import forward deked, before burying a forehand goal for his fourth goal of the campaign to make it a 4-1 game. Harrison Lodewyyk scored a pretty backhand goal with 12:59 left in the second period to make it a 4-2 game with his first goal of the season.
With 2:34 left in the second, Jagger Firkus completed the hat trick, scoring his 16th goal of the season to make it a 5-2 Warriors lead late in the middle frame.
Moose Jaw held a 30-18 lead in shots on goal through 40 minutes, and took their three goal lead into the third period.
Krzysztof Macias scored early in the third period for the Raiders, scoring his seventh goal of the season 1:35 into the final frame. The Polish forward had all kinds of room in the slot to fire home a laser beam past Dimitri Fortin, making it a 5-3 game.
With 4:14 left in the third, the Raiders made it a one goal game. Hayden Pakkala fired home his fourth goal of the season to cut the lead to 5-4.
The Raiders pulled Max Hildebrand for the extra attacker while on a powerplay late in the third, and came close to tying the game, but their best chance was a shot from Sloan Stanick that rang off the cross bar and stayed out. The Warriors were able to survive the late pressure to hang on for a 5-4 win on home ice.
Prince Albert is back in action on Wednesday night in Regina.
