Ritchie and Macias score late in the third to lift Raiders to 2-1 win in Brandon
After a quiet opening 56 minutes of the game, the Prince Albert Raiders came out on the winning end of a late goal fest to beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 2-1 on Friday night at Westoba Place.
It was a back and forth game all night long, but neither team could find the back of the net after 40 minutes. All of the scoring happened in the final frame, where the Wheat Kings found the first goal of the night with 3:50 left in regulation. Right after the Raiders killed off a penalty, Carter Klippenstein scored for Brandon. From the right circle, the forward sniped a shot top corner over Max Hildebrand’s glove for his 10th goal of the season. At that point in the game, it was a shot that Hildebrand definitely would’ve liked to have back, as it gave Brandon a 1-0 lead late in the game.
1:38 later, the Raiders responded, as it was Ryder Ritchie who scored his first goal since returning to the lineup from injury. The 2024 NHL Draft eligible forward took a lead pass from Krzysztof Macias and worked his way in on a partial breakaway. Faking a shot on his forehand, Ritchie took it to his backhand and buried a shot past Carson Bjarnason’s pad, giving him his 14th goal of the season, and none bigger as it tied the game at 1-1.
Prince Albert followed up by scoring the go ahead goal with 1:24 left on the clock, as they wasted no time after a faceoff win in the offensive zone. After the puck was sitting in the faceoff dot, it hit a few skates and trickled down to the Wheat Kings goal line. From there it was picked up by Turner McMillen, who fed a wide open Macias in the low slot. The Polish import was able to blast a one timer past Bjarnason for his 20th goal of the season, and it gave the Raiders a 2-1 lead.
Brandon pulled the goalie and made a final push in the Raider end, but could not find a late equalizer, as the Raiders hung on to win by a 2-1 final in remarkable comeback fashion.
Despite giving up a goal in the third period, Hildebrand was a stud in goal for the Raiders, stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced.
The Raiders improve to 29-26-1-3 on the season, and the win was a big one with the Lethbridge Hurricanes also winning on Friday night by a 4-1 final in Saskatoon. Prince Albert holds a three point cushion over the Hurricanes for seventh place in the Eastern Conference, and it will be a big game coming up tomorrow night as Lethbridge makes their way to the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7pm.
