Raiders defenceman Kaiden Guhle has been a scoring machine for the Raiders of late. File photo/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Kaiden Goahle

Guhle and Protas can’t stop scoring goals; help lift Raiders past Hurricanes

Nov 22, 2019 | 11:17 PM

Both sides clearly had their moments, but it was the Prince Albert Raiders that had a few more on Friday. They defeated the Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-3 in a battle of two of the best teams in the Western Hockey League.

With the Raiders’ win, they keep a hold of first place in the Western Hockey League with a 16-4-3-1 record. They also now have a combined 3-0 record against the next two teams in the standings, 1-0 against the second place Edmonton Oil Kings and 2-0 against the third-ranked Hurricanes. The Raiders’ previous win over Lethbridge was a 4-2 decision on Oct. 11 at the Art Hauser Centre.

Just like his Raiders, Aliaksei Protas also vaulted up to the top of the league in terms of individual stats. Protas scored twice against the Hurricanes to move up to 17 goals on the season in 24 games. That puts him in a tie for the league lead with Hurricanes’ forward Oliver Okuliar (17 goals in 25 games). Protas also leads the league in points with 36.

Kaiden Guhle has been a goal scoring machine as of late, as he added a goal and an assist. Guhle has now scored one goal in each of his last four games. Prior to his current goal-scoring streak, Guhle had five goals scattered across his previous 92 WHL career contests.

In fact, no player on the Raiders has had a longer goal-scoring streak this season. Spencer Moe also have a four-game goal-scoring streak from Nov. 1-6, scoring six goals in that span.

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The Hurricanes opened the scoring five minutes in with Noah Boyko scoring from in tight. But it was all Raiders in the first period after that. Ozzy Wiesblatt answered 1:12 later, followed by goals from Guhle and Protas as the Raiders had a 3-1 lead after the opening 20 minutes.

It was all Hurricanes in the second, as they forced plenty of mistakes in the Raiders zone and had two players familiar to Prince Albert hockey fans score goals.

Former Raider D-Jay Jerome scored on the power play and former Prince Albert Minto Logan Barlage tied it up heading into the third period.

The final frame was clearly the tightest of the three, but the go-ahead goal came off the stick of Raider forward Daniil Stepanov. He quickly turned a Guhle pass onto his forecheck and buried it from just in front of the Hurricanes’ goal for the all-important 4-3 goal with 13:50 left in the third. That’s Stepanov’s second goal of the season for the Raiders, and his first game-winner.

Protas later added an empty net goal.

Raiders assistant coach Jeff Truitt said the biggest difference in the third period was to un-complicate the game.

“It’s a bit of a cliché, but you take a look at simplifying,” Raiders assistant coach Jeff Truitt said. “I thought we turned the puck over an awful lot in the second period, and with their counter game, we didn’t generate anything in the offensive zone for a long period of time. But in the third period, we just said ‘let’s get pucks behind their defence, let’s let our forecheck go and manage the puck the right way.’”

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Hurricanes, Noah Boyko from Calen Addison and Zack Stringer, 5:06

1-1, Raiders, Ozzy Wiesblatt from Justin Nachbaur and Zack Hayes, 6:18

2-1, Raiders, Kaiden Guhle from Reece Vitelli and Evan Herman, 14:20

3-1, Raiders, Aliaksei Protas (shorthanded, unassisted), 15:48

Second Period

3-2, Hurricanes, D-Jay Jerome from Koletrane Wilson and Zack Stringer (power play), 4:11

3-3, Hurricanes, Logan Barlage from Chase Wheatcroft and Calen Addison, 4:58

Third Period

4-3, Raiders, Daniil Stepanov from Kaiden Guhle and Reece Vitelli, 6:10

5-3, Raiders, Aliaksei Protas from Spencer Moe (empty net), 19:51

Ready for Medicine Hat

The Raiders will take on the Medicine Hat Tigers for the first time this year. The Raiders are 7-3-1-1 against the Tigers in the past five seasons.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW