Raider forward Cole Fonstad navigates around Oil Kings captain Trey Fix-Wolansky. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Trevor Redden

Game Three

Series shifts to Edmonton tonight

Apr 23, 2019 | 2:00 PM

The Eastern Conference Championship has moved west this week for a pair of games at Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton.

Following a 1-1 split on opening weekend in Prince Albert, the Raiders and Oil Kings will meet for game three Tuesday night, followed by game four 24 hours later.

The Oil Kings will be looking to build off a nail-biting overtime victory in game two, in which they drew even in the series with the Raiders and handed Prince Albert their first home loss of the postseason. After a back-and-forth 60 minutes, rookie forward Jake Neighbours scored 14:49 into overtime to send the visitors home with a victory. Neighbours and defenceman Matthew Robertson each had a two-point night for the Oil Kings, while Raider rookie forward Jakob Brook led the way with the first two points of his playoff career, both assists.

Prince Albert will see some positives from their first two games and look to build on that heading into the new week. The Raiders jumped out to a quick start in the opening frame of game two, leading 2-0 before a pair of penalties in the back half of the period led to Oil Kings power play goals, knotting the game at 2-2. In the third period, the home side re-gained the lead courtesy of Aliaksei Protas, but a quick response by Trey Fix-Wolansky set up the eventual overtime frame.

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Special teams

Edmonton holds the advantage in this department through two games, as they’re the only team to strike on the power play so far. These two goals provided a big momentum swing in game one, pulling the Oil Kings back from a 2-0 deficit and tying the game after one.

The Oil Kings have struck twice on six power plays [33.3 per cent], while the Raiders have been held off the board on five attempts.

Season series

While the Art Hauser Centre has been kind to the Raiders this year, with a league-leading 28 wins on home ice this season, it didn’t prove to be a major advantage against the Oil Kings in two meetings.

Back on Dec. 12, the Raiders edged the Oil Kings 6-5 in overtime on home ice, before falling 6-3 in the other meeting on Feb. 1.

On the other hand, Prince Albert found success in two games in Edmonton with a 6-3 victory on Nov. 28, and a 5-1 win on Feb. 4. The Raiders have won three straight games at Rogers Place, going back to Dec. 2017.

Lineups

The Raiders iced a full lineup in game two, with Cole Fonstad back for his second straight game after missing two games against Saskatoon to injury, and Justin Nachbaur making his return from suspension. With the return of Nachbaur, Loeden Schaufler was out of the lineup after playing in the previous two games.

Edmonton has dressed an identical lineup in both games so far.

Out west

In the Western Conference Championship, the Vancouver Giants currently hold a 2-0 series lead over the Spokane Chiefs heading into tonight’s game three in Spokane tonight.

Following a 4-1 victory in game one, the Giants trailed 2-0 after two periods in game two before striking back. Vancouver outshot Spokane 20-6 in the third period, scoring four goals in a span of 3:21 to swing the game in their favour on the way to a 4-2 victory.

Game four will also be in Spokane on Wednesday.

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trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden