Raiders defenceman Nolan Allan collides with ICE forward Conor Geekie at the Raider bench. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders ICE'd

Raiders leapfrogged by ICE after losing their fifth straight

Dec 30, 2019 | 10:25 PM

For the first time in what seems like a season and a half, the Prince Albert Raiders have relinquished first place in the WHL East Division.

They dropped their fifth straight game on Monday, 3-2 to the Winnipeg ICE. With the decision, the ICE leapfrog past the Raiders for first place with 44 points to the Raiders’ 43.

The Raiders’ current five game losing streak in their longest since Nov. 11-Dec. 1 of 2017 when they lost nine straight.

It’s not like they’re getting blown out though. In fact, they’re averaging 30 shots a game and only surrendering 21.8 during their losing streak. But the Raiders aren’t finishing their chances, as opposing goalies have a .933 save percentage against them. On the other side, they’re not keeping the puck out of their own net as Raider netminders Boston Bilous and Carter Serhyenko have combined for a .826 save percentage during the slide.

Both of those trends continued on Monday’s game, with the Raiders outshooting the ICE 26-14, but falling 3-2. Liam Hughes made 24 saves for the ICE to be named as the game’s first star. Boston Bilous made 11 saves on 14 shots.

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“I liked a lot about our game, I really did. We played fine,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “But we get a power play [in the second period], the puck goes back to the point, no one around and all of a sudden it jumps over [Ozzy] Wiesblatt’s stick. There were two points where it started going in, and once our player, once their player, just inadvertently skated through the crease and by accident stopped it from going in.

“Those things happen when you have a tough time winning. It’s just a part of it. We have to grind our way through it. But it’s not like we’re playing poorly.”

Raiders captain Zack Hayes said his defence core did have its lapses in the game.

“Anytime you hold a team to under 15 shots and they score on those, it’s just a couple breakdowns that they capitalized on that we have to cover, and us not capitalizing on our opportunities,” Hayes said.

Hayes said to get out of the rut, the Raiders are looking to control what they can, their attitude and their effort.

“We’re still coming to the rink like ‘everyday is a new day,’” Hayes said. “We just have to make sure that when it’s time to play, eyebrows are down and we’re ready to go.”

The one bright spot for the Raiders was glowing red and green, and no, those aren’t your Christmas lights you haven’t put away yet. It’s the Belarussian 3 as Habscheid put together Vitebsk’s Aliaksei Protas and Minsk’s Daniil Stepanov along with Ilya Usau, who was born in Belarus but hails from Denver, Colo.

The all teamed up for both of the Raiders goals, with Usau getting both goals, while Stepanov had both primary assists and Protas had both secondary assists.

Protas extended his point scoring streak to 12 games (eight goals, 21 points).

Usau now has four goals and an assist in his last two games, but still wants to produce even more to help the team.

“It’s good experience, it’s pretty cool. You can’t see it a lot around but we got to produce more obviously,” Usau said. “It’s not enough for us to win. We got to work on it and produce more.”

No Brooksy

Second-year forward Jakob Brook was levied a one-game suspension for his check from behind on Nolan Kneen in Saturday’s 6-3 defeat to the Saskatoon Blades. Brook was given a five-minute major for the hit just 2:41 into the first period and was ejected from the game.

It’s Brook’s first suspension through his first 94 games of his career.

The ICE were also very shorthanded as Michal Teply (Czech Republic) and Nino Kinder (Germany) are at the World Juniors, Ben Zloty missed the game to illness, and Michael Milne and Brad Ginnell are both sidelined to injury. Conor Geekie, the 15-year-old second overall pick played his fourth WHL career game. Nolan Orzeck left the game in the second period after a check, as the ICE finished the game with five defencemen.

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, ICE, Connor McClennon from Carson Lambos and Owen Pederson, 6:55

1-1, Raiders, Ilya Usau from Daniil Stepanov and Aliaksei Protas, 16:03

2-1, ICE, Owen Pederson from Reece Harsch and Carson Lambos, 17:02

Second Period

No scoring.

Third Period

2-2, Raiders, Ilya Usau from Daniil Stepanov and Aliaksei Protas, 1:05

3-2, ICE, Connor McClennon from Peyton Krebs, 2:31

Happy New Year

The Raiders will bring in the New Year on Wednesday in Regina to take on the Pats, 4 p.m. at the Brandt Centre.

After that the Raiders will have a road game on Friday in Brandon against the Wheat Kings and a pair of games against the ICE on Saturday and Sunday.

–

Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW