Raiders forward Daniil Stepanov and ICE forward Isaac Johnson get tangled up. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Raiders Hockey

Raiders’ slide reaches eight games after defeat to ICE

Jan 4, 2020 | 10:53 PM

The winless streak isn’t historic yet for the Prince Albert Raiders, but it’s starting to approach that realm.

The Raiders have now played eight straight games without a victory (0-7-1) after getting doubled up by the Winnipeg ICE 6-3 Saturday at the Wayne Fleming Arena. That’s starting to get on the radar of the Raiders’ franchise record for consecutive games without a win , which is 11. They’ve done that twice in their history—in 2016-17, and 2000-01.

Throughout the streak, it just seems like whenever the goaltending was solid, the Raiders couldn’t score. A recent example of that came on Friday, when Boston Bilous made 20 saves on 21 shots but was saddled with a 1-0 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings as his Raiders couldn’t buy a goal.

And when the pucks were starting going on offensively, they were flooding into their own net too. Unfortunately, that was the story of Saturday’s game. Within the first 68 seconds of the game, ICE forward Owen Pederson scored a pair of goals and Bilous was sent to the bench without making a save.

Then Keegan Karki, who was sitting on the Everett Silvertips’ bench on Friday night in Prince George, B.C., entered the game with his new team to make an unplanned debut. The Raiders acquired Karki late on Friday night for a fourth-round draft choice.

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Although Karki was able to calm the storm in the first period, the ICE were able to open up the game in the third period. Karki finished the night by making 19 saves on 23 shots.

“Early on, he looked real calm,” Raiders assistant coach Jeff Truitt said. “He got on his pads, and when it tight quarters when the puck was there, he looked real calm. He doesn’t panic, he doesn’t readjust his pads. He stays there, he’s calm and the pucks were hitting him. It’s good, it’s not an easy task for a guy to be travelling all day and get the call in, but got his feet wet and early on looked real good.”

The Raiders were down 2-0 and 3-1, but were able to claw back into the game and make it 3-3 with goals from Brayden Watts and Kaiden Guhle.

But the Raiders couldn’t manage the puck early and late in the game, as the ICE were able to take advantage.

“We can’t seem to get the puck out of our own blueline here,” Truitt said. “We didn’t get it deep in their zone. I thought there were a lot of turnovers on both lines, and we didn’t generate enough offence because of it. We get caught and they come back at us.”

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, ICE, Owen Pederson from Connor McClennon, 0:57

2-0, ICE, Owen Pederson from Peyton Krebs and Connor McClennon, 1:08

2-1, Raiders, Ilya Usau (unassisted), 11:08

Second Period

3-1, ICE, Connor McClennon from Isaac Johnson from Benjamin Zloty, 12:34

3-2, Raiders, Brayden Watts from Ilya Usau, 13:09

3-3, Raiders, Kaiden Guhle from Spencer Moe and Aliaksei Protas, 16:42

Third Period

4-3, ICE, Isaac Johnson from Jackson Leppard, 3:47

5-3, ICE, Jackson Leppard from Isaac Johnson and Carson Lambos, 6:39

6-3, ICE, Jackson Leppard from Cole Muir, 14:59

Rematch against the ICE

The Raiders will close out the busy five-game week with a Sunday showdown against the ICE at 6 p.m. at the Wayne Fleming Arena. The Raiders could get to within two points of the ICE for first place in the WHL East Division.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW