Raiders drop 3-2 overtime decision to Calgary
The Prince Albert Raiders couldn’t hang on to a 2-0 lead on Friday night, as the Calgary Hitmen came back to win 3-2 in overtime at the Art Hauser Centre.
In his first WHL game against his hometown team, Max Heise made the most of it, scoring 4:57 into the first period to put the Raiders up 1-0. Taking a breakout pass from Riley Boychuk in his own end, Heise turned on the afterburners and wheeled down the right wing. Moving into the Calgary blue line, he made a move between the skates of a Hitmen defenceman, and then sniped a shot over Eric Tu’s glove and in. It was Heise’s sixth goal of the season, moving into a tie with Aiden Oiring for the team lead.
Prince Albert led 12-6 in shots after 20 minutes, taking their 1-0 lead into the second period.
7:36 into the middle frame, Ty Meunier put the Raiders up by a pair of goals. After Jonah Sivertson forced a turnover in the offensive zone, he sent a pass into the slot for his winger. Meunier took the puck on his forehand from an awkward angle, but he was still able to take a cross-body one timer that beat Tu. It was his fifth goal of the season, and it gave Prince Albert a 2-0 lead.
The Hitmen got back to within one with 6:05 left in the second, as Ethan Moore put his side on the board. After a shot from the high slot from Andrei Molgachev was blocked by Linden Burrett, the puck came free to the right wing for Moore. He was able to track the rebound, and bury a shot past Michal Orsulak, who couldn’t track the puck down in time. Moore picked up his fourth goal of the season, and after two periods of play, the Raiders were hanging on to a 2-1 lead.
Calgary was aggressive in the third period trying to tie the game up, as they outshot the Raiders 12-7. Orsulak made every save except the last one in the final frame, as the Hitmen managed to tie things up with nine seconds left. With the extra attacker on the ice, Caine Wilke found the back of the net to make it a 2-2 game, which would send the contest to overtime.
In the extra frame, Calgary scored the game winner 37 seconds in. After a Raiders scoring chance was turned aside, the Hitmen came down the ice on a two on one rush. From the left wing, Brandon Gorzynski fed a cross ice pass to Kale Dach, who blasted a one timer past Orsulak to end the game, lifting the visitors to a 3-2 win.
The Raiders are now 9-0-3-0 on the season, and get ready for a date with the Moose Jaw Warriors tomorrow night at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7pm.
