Raiders put up 12 in steamrolling of Royals
The Victoria Royals were no match for the Prince Albert Raiders on Tuesday night, as the green and gold demolished their BC Division opponent 12-2 at the Art Hauser Centre.
It was a dominant first period to say the least for the Raiders, as they put up three goals, and outshot the Royals 15-1. They opened the scoring 4:17 into the game, as a Juice Bomb got things going. Brock Cripps swung a pass from the blue line to the left circle for captain Justice Christensen, and his one timer was partially deflected by a Royal on the way through. The redirection fooled Jake Pilon, as Christensen picked up his 12th goal of the season.
5:30 later, Brayden Dube doubled Prince Albert’s lead. Daxon Rudolph recovered a puck that bounced off the half wall, looked to the net, and sent a hard pass through traffic. The puck found Dube’s stick, and he tipped home his 20th goal of the season. It was also the 150th point of his WHL career.
With 5:26 to go in the opening frame, Alisher Sarkenov made it 3-0. He took a lead feed from Evan Smith and found himself all alone on a breakaway. Skating right down the slot, Sarkenov beat Pilon five hole with his shot, picking up his 11th tally of the year.
With 20 minutes down, the Raiders were rolling, as they took their three goal lead into the second.
It only took Prince Albert 38 second to find the back of the net in the second period, as Aiden Oiring made it 4-0. After a shot from Christensen went wide of the goal, Rudolph picked up the rebound along the right wall. Wasting no time with the puck on his stick, Rudolph sent a laser pass in front that Oiring tipped past Pilon. It was his 18th goal of the season.
Victoria would claw back though, scoring twice to make it a two goal game. Eli McKamey struck at the 2:31 mark, lifting a backhand shot over Michal Orsulak’s glove to make it 2-1. Around 10 minutes later, Ashton Brown tipped a long range shot from Henry Peterson home, scoring his ninth of the year to make it 4-2.
Brandon Gorzynski scored the final goal of the second period, making it a three goal lead once again for the Raiders. Brayden Dube gave him a pass at center ice, and the Dallas Stars draft pick turned on the jets on a breakaway. Gorzynski picked the top corner over Pilon’s glove, scoring his 19th goal of the campaign.
After two periods, the Raiders were still up by three, but it was now a 5-2 score heading into the third.
Prince Albert scored SEVEN goals in the third period to win by a 12-2 final. Evan Smith, Connor Howe, Max Heise, and Riley Boychuk all scored five minutes apart early in the third. Aiden Oiring, Matyas Man, and Jonah Sivertson added three more goals 2:04 apart in the final minutes of the game to round out the scoring.
The win is Prince Albert’s fourth in a row. They now get set for a three in three stretch which begins on Thursday night in Moose Jaw.
