Blades goaltender Ethan Chadwick keeps the puck out during a late third-period goalmouth scramble at the Legends Centre in Warman. [Steve Hiscock/Saskatoon Blades]

By Trevor Redden

Narrow defeat

Late push falls short as Raiders fall to Blades in Warman

Sep 6, 2019 | 10:26 PM

A strong finish wasn’t enough to make up for a slow start for the Prince Albert Raiders in Warman on Friday night.

For the eighth straight year, the Raiders and Saskatoon Blades met in pre-season action at the Legends Centre in Warman. In front of a capacity crowd, the Blades built up a 3-0 first period lead on 10 shots, getting goals from Hayden Smith, Ryan Hughes, and Kyle Crnkovic. The Warman crowd got behind the home team as they built up their lead, creating a frenzied atmosphere in the building.

“I haven’t done this before, but guys who have played in Warman before said they loved it. It’s kind of like a playoff atmosphere in the building, so it’s fun,” commented Raiders defenceman Loeden Schaufler.

This was the first meeting of the year between the Raiders and Blades, with their last showdown coming back in April when Prince Albert defeated Saskatoon in six games in the Eastern Conference semi-final en route to the WHL Championship. Although the game didn’t count toward the standings, the two teams made it clearly in the early going that there would be plenty of bad blood.

“Whether it’s pre-season, regular season, playoffs, there’s always going to be something there,” Schaufler said. “It’s a rival team, so you’ve always got to get up for those ones.”

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After the slow start, the Raiders started to find their game in the second period with Ozzy Wiesblatt converting on a power play to make it a 3-1 game, but Saskatoon had a quick answer with Crnkovic scoring his second of the night.

Despite trailing 4-1 after two, there were positive signs from Prince Albert as they outshot the Blades 13-7 in the second period, helping build some momentum into the third.

“We struggled in the first, found our legs in the second, and then in the third we pushed and scored some goals. Could have gone either way at the end, we had a couple close chances and it was a good finish to the game,” Schaufler said.

Saskatoon native Cole Nagy and veteran forward Spencer Moe each scored in the third period to make it a 4-3 game, setting the stage for a dramatic finish.

With 2:19 remaining, Blades forward Cyle McNabb was sent to the box for checking from behind, giving the Raiders an opportunity to even the game on the power play.

With goaltender Brett Balas on the bench and the extra attacker on the ice, the Raiders generated a number of quality chances during the two-man advantage, but rookie goaltender Ethan Chadwick kept the puck out of the net to preserve the victory.

Altogether, Chadwick stopped 39 of 42 shots in a winning effort, while Balas turned aside 21 of 25 in the Raider goal.

Prince Albert will continue the pre-season schedule Saturday night as they travel to Moose Jaw to take on the Warriors.

Depleted lineup

The Raiders are currently without the services of five veteran players who are taking part in NHL rookie camps. Brayden Pachal [Las Vegas], Zack Hayes [Anaheim], Max Martin [Boston], Cole Fonstad [Montreal], and Aliaksei Protas [Washington] all left Prince Albert earlier this week, with rookie tournaments taking place throughout the weekend.

Other scratches tonight were defencemen Nolan Allan along with forwards Jakob Brook and Cohner Saleski.

On the Saskatoon side, the Blades were missing forwards Kirby Dach [Chicago], Riley McKay [Chicago], Chase Wouters [Anaheim], and Eric Florchuk [Washington] along with defencemen Scott Walford [Montreal] and Nolan Kneen [Colorado] to NHL camps. Other scratches for Saskatoon were goaltender Koen MacInnes, defencemen Radek Kucerik, Libor Zabransky, and Charlie Wright, and forward Sammy May.

Scoring summary

First period

1-0, Saskatoon, Hayden Smith from Jayden Wiens and Parker Malchuk, 6:59

2-0, Saskatoon, Ryan Hughes from Brandon Lisowsky and Kyle Crnokovic, 14:58

3-0, Saskatoon, Kyle Crnkovic from Brandon LIsowsky and Ryan Hughes, 17:20

Second period

3-1, Prince Albert, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Justin Nachbaur and Ilya Usau, 14:05 (PP)

4-1, Saskatoon, Kyle Crnkovic from Brandon Lisowsky and Cyle McNabb, 19:44

Third period

4-2, Prince Albert, Cole Nagy from Loeden Schaufler, 7:37

4-3, Prince Albert, Spencer Moe from Eric Pearce, 11:47

–

trevor.redden@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Trevor_Redden