By Jeff D'Andrea

Captain Curt the Teddy Bear Toss hero in comeback SO win

Dec 8, 2017 | 9:47 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders sure had to work for the full-two points on Friday in a 6-5 shootout victory over the Kamloops Blazers on Teddy Bear Toss Night at the Art Hauser Centre.

The Raiders never had a lead in the game, but were able to tie the game four times to force the game into overtime.

“It’s a lot of resiliency from our guys there,” Raiders captain Curtis Miske said. “We were down by a goal a couple of times there, but we just didn’t give up. That’s a huge two-points for us. It’s really nice to get that one in overtime too, I know we’ve lost a couple of those.”

For the first time in his career, Miske scored a Teddy Bear Toss goal, doing so midway in the first period to tie the game.

Captain Curt scores the Teddy Bear Toss goal to tie the game. Nice pass from Moe as well cross-crease to set that up pic.twitter.com/XsBudiW92u

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

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“It’s just a great feeling. It’s my last year, so I thought I’d put one home. I’ve never scored one before,” Miske said. “It’s a great feeling. It’s a really good pass from Moe there. All I had to do was tap it in.”

That’s not all Miske did. He scored two goals and added an assist to earn him the game’s first star. That extends his point streak to three games, giving him three goals and five points in that time.

Not getting a star but contributing in a big way was Jordy Stallard. Blazers’ forward Garrett Pilon scored to give the Blazers a 4-2 lead in the third period, but it lasted only eight seconds as Stallard scored right off the faceoff to get the Raiders back in the game.

“It’s definitely a momentum turner for the game,” Miske said. “Coach leaned on those guys, they need to get out there and get a goal and they did that. That’s probably what got us the ‘W.’”

Right off the draw, Parker Kelly funneled the puck in to Stallard. He saw Blazers goaltender Dylan Ferguson was aggressive and out of his crease, so Stallard made a move to his near post.

“Kells made a really nice pass to me and [Ferguson] just challenged me so far that I didn’t really have a shot so I thought I’d deke. It found its way in.”

Cole Fonstad was the game’s second star, scoring a goal, registering an assist and scoring the only goal in three rounds of the shootout.

The Raiders announced an attendance of 2,132, their highest in their past six home games dating back to Oct. 21.

Teddies they were a-tossing

First Period

1-0, Blazers, Nick Chyzowski from Ondrej Vala and Jackson Shepard, 11:07

Here’s Chyzowski’s goal to give the Blazers a 1-0 lead pic.twitter.com/peRtsSmDlQ

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

1-1, Raiders, Curtis Miske (Teddy Bear Toss goal) from Spencer Moe and Brayden Pachal, 13:30

Captain Curt scores the Teddy Bear Toss goal to tie the game. Nice pass from Moe as well cross-crease to set that up pic.twitter.com/XsBudiW92u

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

Second Period

2-1, Blazers, Brodi Stuart from Nick Chyzowski, 0:46

Brodi Stuart sneaks behind the Raiders defence 46 seconds into the 2nd period to give the Blazers a 2-1 lead pic.twitter.com/gFj5soaPYX

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

2-2, Raiders, Devon Skoleski from Curtis Miske and Brayden Pachal, 10:23

Devon Scoreleski ties the game once again for the Raiders as we head into our 2nd period break pic.twitter.com/tYtiKXItpQ

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

3-2, Blazers, Quinn Benjafield from Connor Zary, 19:46

Benjafield scores with 13.1 seconds left in the second period, giving the Blazers a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes of play. Raiders have edge in shots 26-23 pic.twitter.com/4X4xj6EQjj

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

Third Period

4-2, Blazers, Garrett Pilon from Jackson Sheppard, 8:41

Here was Pilon’s goal from earlier pic.twitter.com/2EB1kgzIpO

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

4-3, Raiders, Jordy Stallard from Parker Kelly and Cole Fonstad, 8:49

Here’s a better look on Stallard’s goal pic.twitter.com/8eNDiRbAVk

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

4-4, Raiders, Curtis Miske from Vojtech Budik and Sean Montgomery, 10:28

Kneen collides with Ferguson, which helps out Miske tip in his second of the game to tie it at 4-4. pic.twitter.com/JM5KmCjgBl

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

5-4, Blazers, Connor Zary (unassisted), 14:40

Zary scores from a bad angle to give the Blazers a 5-4 lead pic.twitter.com/cnrl7EqhFm

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

5-5, Raiders, Cole Fonstad (unassisted), 17:28

The Raiders aren’t going away in this one, they tie the game for their fourth time in the game. Cole Fonstad picks off a clearing attempt equalizes at 5-5 at 17:28 mark pic.twitter.com/2U3QLyaR0P

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

Overtime

No scoring.

Shootout

Cole Fonstad’s goal on Dylan Ferguson

Here’s Fonstad’s shootout goal pic.twitter.com/sJeKtfmVna

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

Ian Scott’s game winning save on Brodi Stuart

Here’s Scott making the game winning save on Stuart and getting a huge from his captain pic.twitter.com/ggXKO5eNsQ

— Jeff D’Andrea (@Jeff_paNOW) December 9, 2017

Blazer report

Blazers forward Garrett Pilon is the son of former Prince Albert Raider Wall of Fame member Rich Pilon. Rich played on the Raiders from 1985-88 while getting drafted by the New York Islanders, seventh round in 1986. Rich played 631 NHL games for the Isle, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues.

Garrett was drafted in the third round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft by the Washington Capitals. He leads the Blazers with 36 points in 29 games this season.

The other NHL-drafted Blazer is Dylan Ferguson, getting picked in this past draft by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights. Ferguson has already made his NHL debut for the Knights as he was called up on a emergency on Nov. 14, playing 9:14 and surrendering a goal on two shots in a 8-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. Ferguson made 32 saves against the Raiders on 37 shots.

Busy week before the holidays

The Raiders will play four games next week before heading into the holiday break. They will play the Saskatoon Blades on Sunday during a rare 2:05 p.m. start. The Raiders will then play the Swift Current Broncos in Speedy Creek on Tuesday, before playing a pair of home games on Wednesday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Friday against the Kelowna Rockets. After some home time with the folks, the Raiders will get back it on Dec. 27-28 with a home-and-home series against the Blades.

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW