Raiders complete season sweep of Warriors with 3-1 win
The Prince Albert Raiders finished off a perfect regular season against the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday night, defeating their East Division rivals 3-1 at the Art Hauser Centre. Prince Albert finishes the season with a 6-0-0-0 record against Moose Jaw.
The Raiders wasted no time getting on the board, striking 1:27 into the first period. Lukas Dragicevic and Vojtech Vochvest exchanged passes before Dragicevic sent the puck to the blue line for Niall Crocker. Dragicevic came cutting through the middle of the Moose Jaw zone and got a return pass, and fired home his 17th goal of the season with a nice shot blocker side past Josh Banini to give his club a 1-0 lead.
Moose Jaw got the only powerplay of the first period but weren’t able to tie the game, thanks in large part to Raider captain Justice Christensen. The defenceman blocked four shots in one shift, allowing the Raiders to come out of the penalty kill unscathed.
After 20 minutes of play, Prince Albert took their one goal lead to the dressing room, with the shots also narrowly favouring them by a 12-11 margin.
The home side scored early again in the second period, as the Raiders struck at the 4:12 mark to take a 2-0 lead. From behind the net, Oli Chenier sent a pass to the left point for Daxon Rudolph, who skated across the line to the right side. The rookie defenceman ripped a shot on goal that squeaked past Banini, barely finding space under his left arm and over the goal line. Rudolph collected his seventh goal of the season to double Prince Albert’s lead.
Prince Albert played a solid period defensively as well, limiting the Warriors to just three shots in the middle frame, as they carried over their 2-0 lead into the third.
Casey Brown scored 7:19 into the third period to make it a 2-1 game, but an empty net goal from Tomas Mrsic with 1:06 left in regulation sealed the deal, as the Raiders stood tall at home with the 3-1 win.
Max Hildebrand stopped 22 of 23 shots in the win, as Prince Albert picked up their third straight win. The green and gold are back in action this weekend with a crucial home and home series with Saskatoon starting on Friday night at SaskTel Centre. Puck drops at 7pm.
