Raiders close out first half with 8-5 setback in Calgary
The Prince Albert Raiders debut in Wednesday Night in the Dub was a fun one to watch. The green and gold came back twice from two goal deficits, but ran out of steam in the third period, as they fell 8-5 to the Calgary Hitmen at the Saddledome. A pair of empty net goals late in regulation proved too much to come back from, as the Raiders went 1-1 on a brief Alberta road trip to wrap up the first half of the season.
The Hitmen opened the scoring 5:07 into the game, as they capitalized on a three on two rush. David Adaszynski fed the trailing Kalem Parker in the slot, and the defenceman ripped a hard shot past Dimitri Fortin for his seventh goal of the season. After failing to score on the opening powerplay of the game 1:47 into the first, Calgary redeemed themselves with the game’s first goal a few minutes later.
Calgary’s lead extended to 2-0 with 13:51 left in the first. Hunter Aura chipped the puck ahead to Connor Hvidston in the neutral zone, and he turned on the jets into the Raider zone. Burning down the left wing, Hvidston faked a shot on Fortin and skated around the net. Fortin followed the play, but Hvidston was able to beat him with a shot on the far post, just sneaking the puck under his left pad for his 10th of the season.
The Raiders cut into the deficit with 6:29 left in the opening frame, as Ty Meunier scored his eighth goal of the season. After a great play from Meunier to grab the puck in the corner, he fed Luke Moroz in the slot, who then sent a touch pass across to Riley Boychuk. Boychuk’s shot rang iron, but Meunier cleaned up the rebound, burying the second chance home to make it a 2-1 game.
Captain Justice Christensen tied things up with 1:51 to go in the first, as the Raiders put together some structured offensive zone time. After a one timer from Tomas Mrsic whistled wide, the green and gold were able to keep possession of the puck in the Calgary end. Eventually, the puck came back to Mrsic in the high slot, and the winger loaded up for a shot. However, he decided not to pull the trigger and fed Christensen in the right circle. The blue liner fired a one timer low past Eric Tu, scoring his second goal in three games to even the score at 2-2.
With 28 seconds to go in the first, Hitmen captain Carson Wetsch scored to put Calgary back on top by one. The forward won a battle for the puck in the left circle and quickly turned to head towards the net. With a strong move inside, Wetsch went from his backhand to his forehand and beat Fortin in tight. His 12th of the season was the last of five goals in the opening frame, as the Hitmen took a 3-2 lead into the second.
Their one goal lead became two 4:06 into the second period, as Adaszynski scored for Calgary. Oliver Tulk fed his linemate a breakaway feed, and Adaszynski was all alone on Fortin. He sniped a bar down shot over the Raider netminder’s right shoulder, scoring his fifth goal of the season and collecting his second point of the night to give the Hitmen a 4-2 lead.
Just like the first period, the Raiders responded with two goals to tie the game up again. On a Prince Albert powerplay, Mrsic was credited with his 18th goal of the season after he fired a shot from the right circle. Tu got most of the shot, but the puck trickled through him and started rolling towards the goal line. Players were crashing the net trying to get at the loose puck, but it was eventually pushed over the goal line by Tu, as he was pushing his pad back to try and get to the rebound. Mrsic’s 11th powerplay goal of the season made it a 3-2 game 7:40 into the second.
With 8:15 to go in the middle frame, Prince Albert evened the score again. This time, it was Riley Boychuk finding the back of the net. Doogan Pederson gave Boychuk a lead feed at center ice, and the rookie forward did the rest of the work. Skating down the right wing with Harrison Lodewyk joining him on the rush, Boychuk kept the puck and sniped a perfect shot over Tu’s left ear top shelf. It was his third goal of the season, and it turned the game into barn burner status, as it was even at 4-4.
With 40 minutes in the books, both sides went into the third period in a deadlock, with the Hitmen holding a 35-17 lead in shots.
Calgary started the third period by scoring twice to take a 6-4 lead. Tulk scored 1:14 into the period, while Wetsch scored at the 12:34 mark of the final frame to make it a two goal game.
Harrison Lodewyk scored for the Raiders with 4:09 left in the third, taking a pass from Brayden Dube behind the net and one timing a shot past Tu. That made it a 6-5 game, but Calgary scored into an empty net with 1:52 left in regulation, as Maxim Muranov scored from center ice to change the score to 7-5 in favour of the Hitmen.
Hvidston sealed the deal with another empty net goal, as the Hitmen won by an 8-5 final.
The WHL is off now for the Christmas break. The Raiders are back in action on December 27 on home ice against the Swift Current Broncos. Puck drops at 7pm.
