Raiders goaltender Boston Bilous dives out of his net to take away a chance from Blades forward Jayden Wiens. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Goalie duel

Blades win the goalie duel in post-holiday match up over the Raiders

Dec 27, 2019 | 10:33 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders dominated shots 34-15, puck possession, chances and won the special teams battle. But they lost perhaps the most important battle of all—the goaltending duel in a 3-2 loss to the Saskatoon Blades Friday at the Art Hauser Centre.

Blades netminder Nolan Maier has been stellar against the Raiders this season, and Friday was no exception. He made 32 saves on 34 shots and was named as the Blades’ first star. He’s 4-1 against the Raiders this year and has only allowed a grand total of seven goals past him, with a .951 save percentage and 1.36 goals against average against his rival team.

On the other side, Boston Bilous didn’t live up to that high standard set by Maier. He surrendered three goals on 15 shots.

“We were the better team, we just didn’t win the game. Sometimes that happens,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “I thought their goaltender played well and I didn’t like any of our three goals [against] to be quite honest. That’s what happens sometimes.”

Bilous started out of the season as one of the hottest goaltenders in the WHL, and was in or around the top five in every goaltending category. But that story has changed. Bilous hasn’t picked up a win in his last four starts, and has posted .867 save percentage or below in each of them. He has been pulled twice in his last six starts.

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“He’s probably not feeling it right now, hasn’t for a bit,” Habscheid said. “We need him to stop pucks, it’s not like he’s not trying to. Guardo [goaltending coach Kelly Guard] works with him, but it just wasn’t there tonight. That’s the way it is sometimes.”

Riley McKay had a pair of goals for the Blades to lead them offensively, including the game winner in the third period. Colton Dach had the other Blades goal.

Aliaksei Protas had a goal and an assist in his return to the Raiders from Belarus. Spencer Moe had the other goal.

Late game controversy

With 2:19 left in the game, Blades forward Zach Huber received a two-minute checking to the head penalty on Raiders forward Ozzy Wiesblatt as Wiesblatt had just released a shot on goal.

The Raiders were visibly arguing the call and pleaded for a major penalty, but to no avail.

“We’ll let the league deal with that, but that was a dangerous hit,” Habscheid said. “We’re trying to protect the players. The head was targeted. We’ll see what the league says about it.”

Cool Culling

After the Raiders acquired him earlier on Friday from the Swift Current Broncos, 2001-born forward Matthew Culling was thrown in to the lineup.

Culling was acquired from the Swift Current Broncos on Friday morning, in exchange for fellow 2001-born Cole Nagy.

“He got here at four or five, so we just told him to get through the game and play smart,” Habscheid said. “He’s a good player, he’ll be fine for us.”

In his Bronco debut on Friday, Nagy got assists on the Broncos’ first two goals, as they went on to beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-3 in a shootout.

Hero Hannoun goes to Italy

Former Raider Dante Hannoun is heading to Europe. Hannoun, who has both an Italian and Lebanese background, signed with Hockey Club Bolzano Foxes in Bolzano, Italy of the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga.

Hannoun signed on boxing day with the Foxes and got an assist on the Foxes’ only goal in a 2-1 defeat to Red Bull Salzburg later that day.

Hannoun was acquired at last season’s trade deadline by the Raiders and went on to score 31 points in 28 games to conclude the regular season, then had 14 goals and 24 points in 23 postseason games—including the overtime winner in Game 7 to secure the 2019 WHL Championship victory for the Raiders.

Watts the deal with Watts?

Brayden Watts was a notable absence from Friday’s game. He couldn’t catch a flight out of his native California due to snow and bad weather and was forced to miss his game.

“Yeah, California weather, believe it or not,” Habscheid said. “It was snowing there, but they did everything they could to get out, but he just couldn’t get out. Hopefully, he’ll be back tomorrow for us.”

Scoring Summary

First Period

No scoring.

Second Period

1-0, Raiders, Spencer Moe from Aliaksei Protas and Ilya Usau (power play), 7:51

1-1, Blades, Riley McKay from Chase Wouters, 8:05

2-1, Raiders, Aliaksei Protas (unassisted), 8:49

2-2, Blades, Colten Dach (unassisted), 19:51

Third Period

3-2, Blades, Riley McKay from Chase Wouters and Tristen Robins, 14:47

Blades again, then ICE, then 2020!

The Raiders and Blades will wrap up their traditional post-holiday home-and-home series on Saturday in Saskatoon, 7 p.m. at the SaskTel Centre.

The Raiders will play one final game of 2019, on Monday against the Winnipeg ICE at the Art Hauser Centre. That game will begin a real busy road trip, as they’ll play the Regina Pats on Wednesday, the Brandon Wheat Kings Friday, and the ICE again on both Saturday and Sunday.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW