Raiders fall 3-1 to Wheat Kings

The Prince Albert Raiders dropped their third straight game on Sunday night, as the Brandon Wheat Kings won 3-1 at the Art Hauser Centre. Niall Crocker scored the lone goal for the Raiders, while Chase Coward stopped 28 of 31 shots in the loss.

After a scoreless, physical first period, the Wheat Kings gave themselves a bit of breathing room, scoring twice in the middle frame. Charlie Elick took a point shot that was kicked out by Chase Coward, but the rebound came in front to Nolan Flamand. Instead of shooting, Flamand sent a cross crease pass to Jayden Wiens, who was wide open to bury home the first goal of the game.

Wiens picked up his second goal of the period with 3:24 to go, as Brandon scored on their second powerplay goal of the game. After Coward made a couple of stops in a row, another rebound was coughed up in front of the net, and Wiens pounced on it, giving the Wheat Kings a 2-0 lead with his second goal of the night and eighth of the season.

Brandon outshot the Raiders 19-15 after 40 minutes, and took their 2-0 lead into the third.

The Raiders finally got on the board 6:50 into the third period, as Niall Crocker broke Ethan Eskit’s shutout bid. Following up on a chance from Hayden Pakkala, Crocker jumped on a centering pass right in front and snuck a shot past Brandon’s netminder. His eighth goal of the season made it a 2-1 game, bringing Prince Albert right back into the game.

Brandon was able to restore their two goal lead just 1:19 later. After a delayed offside call forced the Raiders to tag up, the Wheat Kings turned the play the other way back into the Raiders end. Dominik Petr put a shot past Coward for his ninth goal of the season, as the visitors took a two goal lead.

The Wheat Kings were able to hold on the rest of the way, as they won by a 3-1 final on the road.

Prince Albert (13-12-0-2) head back onto the road to take on the Swift Current Broncos on Friday night.