Raiders kick off two game road swing with 3-1 win over Tigers
The Prince Albert Raiders kicked off a mini two game Alberta road trip with a 3-1 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers on Tuesday night. The Raiders erased a 1-0 deficit with three straight goals in the third period to pick up their fifth win of the regular season.
The Tigers began the game dominating the Raiders in the offensive zone, but Tikhon Chaika made some huge saves to keep the game scoreless. Gavin McKenna thought he had opened the scoring for the Tigers in the first with a tap in goal in front, but a goaltender interference call negated the game’s opening goal.
After that, the game started to balance out, as the action was back and forth. Chaika, as well as Tigers netminder Beckett Langkow put together perfect periods, with the former stopping 12 shots, and the latter turning aside nine after a scoreless 20 minutes.
In the second period, Terrell Goldsmith looked like he had opened the scoring just over a minute into the middle frame, but it was also waved off, but took a length video review to do so. The big defenceman had knocked the puck out of midair at the crease, but the goal was ultimately nullified with a high sticking call, keeping things scoreless. After 40 minutes of play, both teams were still in search for the game’s opening goal.
The Tigers opened the scoring at the 4:01 mark of the third period on the powerplay. Oasiz Wiesblatt sent a pass on the doorstep for Tyler MacKenzie, who had an easy tap in to break the ice. After going back and forth all game, it was Medicine Hat finding the first goal of the game with MacKenzie’s sixth goal of the season.
However, it took just 58 seconds for the Raiders to find the equalizer. Sloan Stanick tucked a backhand shot home on a breakaway past Langkow. His fourth of the season was a big one, denying the Tigers of continuing their momentum. A quarter way through the final regulation frame, both teams once again found themselves deadlocked, this time at 1-1.
A 5 on 3 powerplay gave the Raiders all the momentum they needed to take the lead late in the third. While they didn’t score up by two men, Prince Albert did score on the 5 on 4 portion of the powerplay. Sloan Stanick connected with Niall Crocker, who threw the puck in front, where Hayden Pakkala was on the doorstep to bury the rebound. Pakkala’s second goal of the season was the Raiders’ second goal of the game, which gave them a 2-1 lead with 4:25 left in regulation.
With 37 seconds left in regulation, Carson Latimer sealed the deal with an empty net marker to make it 3-1, and that’s how the scoreboard would read at the final buzzer.
Chaika was busy in goal for the Raiders, turning aside 33 out of 34 shots thrown at him in the win. Prince Albert improves to 5-11-2-0 with the win. They’ll hit the road to take on the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Wednesday night. Puck drop is 8pm.