Raiders forward Aliaksei Protas and Blades captain Chase Wouters battle for a loose puck. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders Hockey

Raiders drop third straight to Blades after tough start

Dec 28, 2019 | 10:41 PM

After losing the goaltending duel on Friday in a 3-2 defeat to the Saskatoon Blades, the Prince Albert Raiders switched it up and tried out their other netminder.

That didn’t seem to work out either as the Raiders fell behind 3-0 just seven minutes into the game, and lost 6-3 on Saturday at the SaskTel Centre. That’s the Raiders’ fourth straight defeat, with three coming at the hands of the Blades. The Raiders are now 20-11-3-1 on the season, with the Blades improving to 16-15-1-2.

Rookie netminder Carter Serhyenko will hope to soon forget the night, as he just lasted 7:13 and surrendered three goals on four shots. Serhyenko came into the game with a .928 save percentage, 1.99 goals against average and with the added boost of playing in his first WHL career game in his hometown.

That choice to play Serhyenko came a day after Raiders starting goaltender Boston Bilous surrendered three goals on 15 shots in a 3-2 defeat on Friday at the Art Hauser Centre.

That comes against Blades goaltender Nolan Maier, who improves to 5-1 against the Raiders this season. He’s only surrendered 10 goals in those games.

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Blades defender Matthew Sanders, the younger brother of former Raiders netminder Nick Sanders, scored his first WHL career goal on an innocent looking shot from near the blueline and the boards.

It got worse than that as Raiders sophomore Jakob Brook was ejected from the game just 2:41 as he took a major checking from behind penalty on Blades defender Nolan Kneen.

The Blades scored twice on the major power play, getting a tap in goal from Chase Wouters and a long screened shot from Scott Walford. The Raiders headed to the dressing room for the first intermission down 3-0 and down a man.

The Blades were able to build on the lead as Scott Walford got his second goal of the game, side stepping a check from Aliaksei Protas and beating Boston Bilous high on the glove side. Colton Dach scored his second goal of the weekend to extend the Blades’ lead to 5-0, and force Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid to burn his timeout.

That seemed to spark the Raiders a little, particularly those with Belarusian backgrounds.

Ilya Usau, the Moose from Belarus, received a sarcastic cheer from the Blades’ faithful when he made it 5-1, tapping home a cross-crease feed from Aliaksei Protas.

But the Blades’ fans were silent when Usau scored his second of the game eight minutes later. Protas absorbed a check from Blades centreman Chase Wouters with his back, then found Usau in the middle of the ice to beat Maier on the high blocker side.

Then with 50 seconds left in the second period, Protas got his third point of the night as he wheeled around the zone and beat Maier high on the blocker side to get the Raiders to within a pair heading into the third period.

But the Blades were able to put up their defences and keep the Raiders at bay in the third period, adding an empty net goal from Kyle Crnkovic.

No Huber

Before the game, the WHL levied a two-game suspension of supplementary discipline to Zach Huber for his check to the head on Ozzy Wiesblatt on Friday. Huber sat out Saturday’s game, serving his first game of the ban. Wiesblatt played on Saturday and was an apparent target by the Blades throughout the night. Wiesblatt got an assist on Protas’ second period goal.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Blades, Matthew Sanders from Randen Schmidt, 1:50

2-0, Blades, Chase Wouters from Kyle Crnkovic and Nolan Kneen (power play), 6:00

3-0, Blades, Scott Walford from Tristen Robins and Eric Florchuk (power play), 7:13

Second Period

4-0, Blades, Scott Walford from Nolan Kneen, 0:35

5-0, Blades, Colton Dach from Eric Florchuk and Scott Walford, 4:32

5-1, Raiders, Ilya Usau from Aliaksei Protas and Remy Aquilon, 10:34

5-2, Raiders, Ilya Usua from Aliaksei Protas and Michael Horon, 18:37

5-3, Raiders, Aliaksei Protas from Ozzy Wiesblatt and Ilya Usau, 19:10

Third Period

6-3, Blades, Kyle Crnkovic from Tristen Robins (empty net), 18:16

ICING into the new year

The Raiders will play one more game in the 2019 calendar year, taking on the Winnipeg ICE on Monday at the Art Hauser Centre. They’ll take on the Red Deer Rebels on the road on New Year’s Day to fire up a four-game road trip. The Raiders will also be in Regina on Jan. 1, Brandon Jan. 3 and Winnipeg on both Jan. 4 and 5.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW