Raiders weather the storm to beat Hurricanes 3-2
Two goals from Brayden Dube and another from Justice Christensen were enough to hold off the Lethbridge Hurricanes, as the Prince Albert Raiders won by a 3-2 final on Saturday night. Dimitri Fortin stopped 26 of 28 shots in his first win in a Raider jersey.
The Raiders only needed 29 seconds to find the back of the net, as they got the Art Hauser Centre rocking early. After a big hit by Justice Christensen freed the puck up along the half wall in the offensive zone, Aiden Oiring scooped it up. Skating to the top of the left circle, Oiring fed a pass across to Daxon Rudolph at the right faceoff dot. Rudolph barely had the puck on his stick before he sent a pass back across the ice to Brayden Dube, who was able to one time a shot home past Koen Cleaver from the bottom of the left circle. Dube’s 10th goal of the season gave Prince Albert a quick 1-0 lead.
Well that was quick😳 pic.twitter.com/Q6OWLylFPm
— Prince Albert Raiders (@PARaidersHockey) December 1, 2024
With 6:48 to go in the opening frame, the Hurricanes tied things up on their first powerplay of the contest. From the blue line, Noah Chadwick sent a pass to the right circle to Miguel Marques. With time at the faceoff dot, Marques elected not to shoot, and instead sent the puck to the bottom of the left circle. Brayden Edwards gathered the pass and beat a sprawling Dimitri Fortin for his 13th goal of the season.
The Raiders held a 9-7 edge in shots after 20 minutes, but the score was even at 1-1 heading into the second period.
Former Raider Hayden Pakkala gave Lethbridge a 2-1 lead with 8:18 left in the second period. From under the goal line, Trae Johnson heard Pakkala bang his stick on the ice wanting a pass, and fed him the puck in the low slot. Taking the puck in the left faceoff circle, Pakkala toe dragged and beat Fortin over the pad and under the glove. His fourth goal of the season gave the Hurricanes their first lead of the night at 2-1.
Dube responded 1:59 later for Prince Albert, scoring his second goal of the game. After Fortin made a nice blocker save on Will Sharpe, Dube was off to the races from his own blue line. Leading a two on one rush down the right wing with Tomas Mrsic, he decided to keep the puck, which turned out to be the right decision. Dube sniped a shot from the hashmarks, beating Cleaver glove side to make it a 2-2 game.
Dube Dube doooo x2! pic.twitter.com/LgtNoLCrEP
— Prince Albert Raiders (@PARaidersHockey) December 1, 2024
With 46 seconds left in the middle frame, captain Justice Christensen gave the Raiders the lead again. After a scramble play in front of the Lethbridge net, the puck bounced around before it was picked up by Mrsic at the bottom of the right circle. He chipped the puck off the wall and to the point for Christensen, and the defenceman blasted a one timer blocker side past a screened Cleaver. Christensen’s first goal in six games put the green and gold up 3-2 after 40 minutes.
A rocket from the captain wrapped up the second period scoring! pic.twitter.com/imwBY6YetI
— Prince Albert Raiders (@PARaidersHockey) December 1, 2024
It was a tight third period, but nobody was able to find the back of the net. The Hurricanes pulled the goalie for the extra attacker in the final minutes of regulation, but the Raiders were able to keep them at bay, as they held on for a 3-2 win on home ice.
It’s Prince Albert’s third straight win and eighth straight game with a point, as they improve to 11-8-3-0 on the season.
The green and gold are back in action on Tuesday night when they host the Red Deer Rebels. It’ll be Prince Albert’s food bank donation game, where the club will be accepting non parishable food item donations at the door which will be brought to the Prince Albert Food Bank. Puck drops at 7pm.
