Raiders beat Tigers for second time in seven days 5-1
The Prince Albert Raiders picked up a huge win over the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday night, winning 5-1 at the Art Hauser Centre. Brandon Gorzynski and Aiden Oiring both scored twice, while Michal Orsulak was solid between the pipes with 27 saves.
Gorzynski set the tone in the first period, scoring twice to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead. Right at the 10 minute mark of the opening frame, Gorzynski tipped in a point shot from Justice Christensen, but he wasn’t the only one to get a stick on it. As the shot came in, Owen Corkish tipped it first, but Gorzynski redirected the puck once again, which threw Jordan Switzer for a loop. The double tip found the back of the net, and Gorzynski was credited with his 21st goal of the season to open the scoring.
Prince Albert was given a powerplay just a few minutes later as Kade Stengrim was given an interference call for running Jonah Sivertson into the boards. Just 27 seconds into the man advantage, Gorzynski double dipped. Daxon Rudolph played the puck ahead for Braeden Cootes at the Tigers blue line, and Cootes used his strong skating to burn past two Tigers. He saw Gorzynski catch up to him beside the net, and slid a pass to his left. Gorzynski over powered Josh Van Mulligen in front of the net and was able to redirect home his second goal of the night to make it 2-0.
Prince Albert outshot Medicine Hat 12-7 in the opening frame, and took their two goal lead into the second period.
The middle stanza was a defensive one, mostly for Prince Albert, who was outshot 15-4. Michal Orsulak was the most dominant player on the ice on either side, as he stopped every shot he faced. There was no scoring to report in the third, meaning Prince Albert took their 2-0 lead into the third period as well.
Oiring made it a 3-0 game 3:17 into the third. He took a pass from Gorzynski and was robbed by a great stop by Switzer, but followed up with a rebound chance in front. The puck popped way up in the air, and Oiring was able to bat it in over Switzer, just low enough for it not to be a high stick. It was his 20th goal of the season.
Medicine Hat got back into it a little bit, as Liam Ruck scored on a Tigers powerplay. Andrew Basha gave him a pass from distance that he was able to redirect home past Orsulak. It was Ruck’s 27th goal of the season as he made it 3-1.
The Raiders took control right back, scoring just over two minutes later on a powerplay of their own. From the point, Brock Cripps took a shot that deflected off Markus Ruck’s stick in front. Cripps was looking for a backdoor feed to Jonah Sivertson, but the puck went perfectly off Ruck’s blade and over Switzer. Cripps was credited with his fourth goal of the season, making it a 4-1 game.
Oiring added his second goal of the period with 3:09 left in regulation. He took a pass in the right circle from Max Heise and blasted a one timer past Switzer to make it 5-1.
5-1 would stand as the final score, as the Raiders picked up their seventh straight win, and their second in a week over Medicine Hat.
Prince Albert has now extended their lead for first place in the Eastern Conference by four points over Medicine Hat.
