Oil Kings rookie Jake Neighbours celebrates his overtime winning goal Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Like a good Neighbour

Neighbours hands Raiders first home loss of the playoffs in OT

Apr 20, 2019 | 11:03 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders were one goal away from being in the driver’s seat of the WHL Eastern Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oil Kings. But thanks to the Oil Kings’ standout rookie, the Raiders are still battling to get into the car.

Jake Neighbours scored the OT winner with 5:11 left in the extra frame to give the Oil Kings a 4-3 overtime victory Saturday night at the Art Hauser Center to knot the series at 1-1. The Oil Kings are now 4-0 in overtime this postseason, while the Raiders are now 0-1. That’s also the Raiders’ first loss on home ice in the postseason, having won their previous six games at the Art Hauser Centre.

Neighbours was near the half-wall, and was able to find some room high-glove on Raiders goaltender Ian Scott to end the game.

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“It’s pretty amazing. It feels a bit better in an away barn, I gotta say,” Neighbours said. “In overtime, there’s no bad shot. The puck was kind of rolling and I had no other play. I just kind of ripped it on net, and it was in a good spot.”

Neighbours was the fourth overall pick in the 2017 Bantam Draft and had 11 goals and 24 points in 47 games in the regular season. But Neighbours has found an extra gear in the postseason. He’s currently tied for the Oil Kings’ team lead in points with 11 and tied for second with four goals.

“Jake’s been a beast for us,” Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer said. “He just turned 17, and he plays big minutes for us. He plays a big game for us. He’s plays a playoff type game, the guys that go in, that forecheck hard, they’re tough on the wall, they protect the puck well and go to the net. When you do that, especially in the playoffs, you’re going to be rewarded.”

The Raiders felt they had some opportunities before the Neighbours goal to capitalize. Rookie Ozzy Wiesblatt was stopped point blank by Oil Kings goaltender Dylan Myskiw, and a backdoor feed to Brett Leason deflected over his stick.

“I thought we carried the play in overtime, we had multiple chances. I’ve been here long enough. Usually when that happens, it’s going the other way and it did,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. It’s unfortunate but that’s hockey.

“You have to feel sorry for yourself for a few hours here, and tomorrow’s another day.”

Before the OT winner

The Raiders looked in control in the first period, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 6:55. Noah Gregor scored with his deceptively quick wrist shot to give the Raiders an early advantage 3:28 into the game.

That was quickly followed up 3:27 by Justin Nachbaur, who was playing in just his second shift since serving a two-game suspension.

About 12 minutes into the game, they led 8-0 in shots and looked in control.

But on came the Oil Kings. They got two power plays late in the period and were able to capitalize on both of them. Matthew Robertson scored from the point and stopped a 73:58 goalless streak to start the series.

With 28.4 seconds left, Andrew Fyten deflected a shot off his shin pad and into the net to tie it up.

After a scoreless second period, the Raiders regained the lead 2:47 into the third period after a rebound goal from Aliaksei Protas.

But Trey Fix-Wolansky was able to respond less than three minutes later to tie up the game at 3-3 and eventually force overtime. Fix-Wolansky broke a five-game goal scoring drought, after registering just one assist in the four-game sweep over the Calgary Hitmen in the second round.

Notes

Raiders rookie Jakob Brook got his first two points of the playoffs with a pair of assists on Saturday. Eric Pearce got his first assist as well in the playoffs.

Looking ahead

The series will now shift to Edmonton where Games 3 and 4 will be played at Rogers Place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Now that both teams have a victory, Game 5 is now necessary and will be held at the Art Hauser Centre on Friday. All games listed will have a 7 p.m. start.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW