Raiders forward Justin Nachbaur fires up the crowd after scoring in Game 2. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Turning it up

Getting you set for Game 5 at the Hauser

Apr 26, 2019 | 1:59 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders learned a valuable lesson so far this series against the Edmonton Oil Kings — if they want to win WHL Eastern Conference Finals, they’ll need to have their energy levels at maximum each night.

That was quite evident on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Raiders brought out easily their flattest effort on Tuesday and lost 5-1. That’s the first time the Raiders surrendered five goals and lost by four or more these playoffs.

But then the Raiders responded with a much better effort the following night, winning 2-1 on Wednesday to tie up the series at 2-2 and avoided the prospect of a 3-1 deficit.

“I just liked the energy,” Raiders Head Coach Marc Habscheid said. “The energy was there. The skating legs, the effort, that’s what we look for. That’s our foundation. It certainly wasn’t there in Game 3, but it was there in Game 4. You can talk about structure all you want — you can put shingles on the house, but you need the foundation.”

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That energy could get even higher for Friday’s night’s Game 5 at the Art Hauser Centre, as the home crowds have been bananas throughout the playoffs. The last previous five games have been sold out. Friday’s game could be the sixth, as there are approximately 100 standing room only tickets available as of press time.

“Our guys like playing at home, we’re no different than anyone else. [We] feed off the crowd,” Habscheid said. “We feel good about our game. The energy we had in the Saskatoon series, we thought it was there in Game 4. We want to sustain that and make sure we start on time.”

Stats on stats

If the first four games are any indication, the rest of this series should continue to be close and decided fine margins. Three of the games so far ended as one-goal games, one of those in overtime.

Low scoring games seem to have benefited the Raiders. The Raiders won Game 1 by a score of 1-0, and won 2-1 in Game 4. But when the flow of play opened up in Games 2 and 3, the Oil Kings took advantage. They won 4-3 in overtime in Game 2 and 5-1 in Game 3.

The Oil Kings have had the advantage in special team situations as well, killing 90 per cent of penalties in the series and scoring on 28.6 per cent on their power plays. Both teams are tied in even strength goals thus far with six each.

Raiders forward Noah Gregor scored one point in each of the last three games with two goals and an assist to lead the Raiders’ series in points. Gregor also took over the Raiders’ lead for playoff scoring with 15 points in 14 playoff games.

Vince Loschiavo leads the Oil Kings in scoring in both the series and the playoffs, with two goals and four points in the series (two goals and three points came in Game 3). Loschiavo also has seven goals and 14 points in as many post-season games.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW