Raiders forward Ilya Usau watches the puck sail wide against the Winnipeg ICE on Monday. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders goalless

Raiders held off scoresheet in Brandon as offensive struggles continue

Jan 3, 2020 | 10:19 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders have had trouble scoring in their current seven-game losing skid, and it got a little worse on Friday in Westoba Place.

They were held off the scoresheet in a 1-0 defeat to the Brandon Wheat Kings, as Jiri Patera turned aside all 29 shots the Raiders could muster.

That’s the first time the Raiders have failed to score so far this season. In fact, the goose egg breaks a 68-game streak in which the Raiders scored at least one goal. You have to go back to Dec. 9, 2018 for the last time the Raiders were shutout 1-0 to the Saskatoon Blades.

During the 0-6-1 strech the Raiders are currently on, they are scoring just 1.57 goals per game despite firing 28.3 shots per game. The Raiders also have just one goal in their past two games, after a 2-1 overtime defeat to the Regina Pats on Wednesday.

Opposing goalies have a save percentage of .947 in that stretch, as the Raiders have been able to control the shot clock for the most part but not light the red lamp.

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Raiders assistant coach Jeff Truitt said the Raiders need to take away the sight lines from opposing goalies to make their jobs a lot more difficult.

“There’s a fine line of getting off to the side when the shot’s coming, and being right in front in the battle,” Raiders assistant coach Jeff Truitt said. “Sometimes, we’re off to the side a little bit. We’ve shown a lot of video about it and talked about some of the players in the NHL that hang in there—they might not be the biggest guys in the world, but they do it.

“That’s just the price that you have to pay.”

Boston Bilous was arguably the best Raider on the ice. He made 20 saves on 21 Wheat Kings shots, returning to the form he had to start the season.

Chad Nychuk was the only Wheat King to beat him, getting a tip in front halfway through the second period.

The Raiders took six minor penalties that resulted in power plays for the Wheat Kings, but were able to kill off all six. The Raiders were 0-3 on the power play.

Top Prospects

Two Raiders were named to the 2020 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game earlier on Friday. Defenceman Kaiden Guhle will be on Team Red and forward Ozzy Wiesblatt was named to Team White.

Wiesblatt and Guhle are one of three pairs of teammates that will play against each other at the Top Prospects Game. Sudbury Wolves’ Quinton Byfield and Jack Thompson will battle against each other, as will Windsor Spitfires’ Will Cuylle and Jean-Luc Foudy.

It’s getting ICY in here

The Raiders will stick around in Manitoba for another couple days to play the Winnipeg ICE on both Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. respectively. The Raiders lost to the ICE 3-2 on Dec. 30 in their last meeting against them, after winning the previous two match ups 3-1 on Dec. 13 and 3-2 in overtime on Sept. 28.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW