Raiders late comeback bid falls short in 3-2 loss to Rebels
The Prince Albert Raiders fell 3-2 to the Red Deer Rebels on Tuesday night at the Art Hauser Centre.
After a scoreless first period which saw both sides put up four shots on goal, the Rebels opened the scoring 5:47 into the middle frame. With the Raiders shorthanded after taking a too many men minor, Derek Thurston made them pay. 1:09 into the powerplay, Thurston sniped a shot from the point, beating Dimitri Fortin top corner on the glove side with traffic in front of him. Thurston picked up his second goal of the season to give Red Deer the first goal of the game.
Prince Albert responded less than two minutes later, as Riley Boychuk scored his second goal of the season as well. After Lukas Dragicevic made something out of nothing along the left wall, he skated through the faceoff circle and down near the goal line, spotting Boychuk open in front. The Raider defenceman sent a pass backdoor to the rookie winger, and Boychuk tapped home a shot past Chase Wutzke’s outstretched left pad, tying the game at 1-1.
Just tappppp it in pic.twitter.com/9HlEtJMjqr
— Prince Albert Raiders (@PARaidersHockey) December 4, 2024
There were a lot more shots in the second period, with Red Deer throwing 18 at Fortin, and the Raiders sending 17 Wutzke’s way. With 40 minutes in the books, it was a 1-1 game heading into the third period.
The Raiders outshot the Rebels 22-6 in the third period, but it was Red Deer who found two goals in the final frame to come away with the win. Samuel Drancak struck at the 3:18 mark, while Hunter Mayo scored with 13:20 left on a powerplay to make it a 3-1 game.
Tomas Mrsic scored on a nice shot from the slot with 3:17 left in regulation to make it a 3-2 game, but that’s as close as the Raiders would get. With the goalie pulled for more than two minutes, Wutzke shut the door on a late Prince Albert surge to help the Rebels win by a 3-2 final, making 41 saves in the win.
SCHNIPE pic.twitter.com/tTIk14IqRb
— Prince Albert Raiders (@PARaidersHockey) December 4, 2024
Prince Albert’s point streak comes to an end at eight games with the loss. They’ll look to start a new one on Friday night when they welcome the Calgary Hitmen to the Art Hauser Centre for teddy bear toss night. Puck drops at 7pm.
