Raiders forward Brayden Watts celebrates his first of two goals in his 300th WHL career game. Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff

By Jeff D'Andrea

Watts the deal?!

300 Watts lights up the Hauser; Hayeser with important laser

Jan 31, 2020 | 10:43 PM

Brayden Watts sure knew how to celebrate his 300^th WHL career game.

The Prince Albert Raiders overage scored a pair of goals in a 4-1 victory over the Lethbridge Hurricanes, extending the team’s point streak to 10 games (6-0-1-3) to take over first place in the WHL East Division. The Hurricanes saw their three-game winning streak snapped, and are 29-12-2-5 on the season, good for third in the WHL Central Division.

He came all the way from Bakersfield, Calif., to play in the WHL after the Moose Jaw Warriors drafted him in the third round of the 2014 WHL Bantam Draft. He spent the last two and a half seasons with the Vancouver Giants, before coming over to the Raiders two games into this season.

“It’s been unbelievable. I love it here. I started my career in Saskatchewan and I’m happy to finish it here,” Watts said.

Of course last year, Watts was on the Giants club that lost Game 7 in overtime to the Raiders. Although there’s still eight players on last year’s championship winning team, the whole team has embraced their Watts like one of their own. He was named as one of the team’s three assistant captains, and has scored 21 goals and 45 poitns in 46 games for the club this year.

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“He’s been really good for us. He’s a Raider. He gets us, he’s a good person, good teammate and he’s played well for us. He had a tough way to end the season last year, but he’s well-liked and the guys would like him to be on the right side of things this year, for sure,” Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said. “He’s had a good career. He’s from Bakersfield and he’s taken a chance on our league. He’s done well in our league and enjoyed our league.”

On Friday, Watts had two good chances against Hurricanes’ goaltender Carl Tetachuk, but was turned aside on both occasions. But he was able to get on the scoresheet in the second period, scoring the eventual game-winning goal on the backhand.

Watts then sealed it late with an empty net goal.

Hayeser with an important laser

Raiders captain Zack Hayes does a lot for the Prince Albert Raiders on and off the ice. But if there’s one thing he doesn’t contribute a lot, it’s the power play.

But before Friday’s game, Hayes did not have a single power play goal or point in his previous 256 games played—but he very rarely gets an opportunity.

He got that chance on Friday, with the Raiders up 2-1 late in the third period against a Hurricanes team that leads the league with 10 shorthanded goals. But instead of just preventing a goal against, Hayes dropped down to a knee and sniped in his first ever power play tally and the all-important 3-1 goal with 2:22 remaining.

“It was a great pass by Alex. We were working on one-timers in practice, and I guess it paid off,” Hayes said.

Habscheid said he was getting some flashbacks of a certain St. Louis Blues legend.

“Hayeser, he just doesn’t complain. He knows what he is, he’s a defender. But we had two D out there being one-up late in the third. It looked like he was Brett Hull out there, he was down on one knee and snapped it,” Habscheid said. “I was just surprised he didn’t his stick down centre ice after the goal. It was stellar. It almost looked like he knew what he was doing.”

That goal on the power play was not only a game-breaker, but it also came at a time when the Raiders were struggling with the man-advantage. Before Hayes’ goal, the Raiders had one goal in their previous 15 attempts dating back to Jan. 18.

“Our power play has not been good. If you’re not going to work, then you’re just not going to play on it. That’s the way it is. It’s not your right to be on the power play, it’s your priviledge…On 5-on-5, we have energy and we have snap to our game. Then the power play comes…”

Scoring Summary

First Period

No scoring.

Second Period

1-0, Raiders, Ilya Usau from Ozzy Wiesblatt and Kaiden Guhle, 1:08

1-1, Hurricanes, Trevor Thurston (unassisted), 3:13

2-1, Raiders, Brayden Watts from Justin Nachbaur, 15:51

Third Period

3-1, Raiders, Zack Hayes from Aliaksei Protas and Kaiden Guhle (power play), 17:38

4-1, Raiders, Brayden Watts (empty net, unassisted), 19:38

On the road again

The Raiders wrap up their four-game home stand and will head back on the road again for four. They’ll take on the Swift Current Broncos on Saturday, the Regina Pats on Wednesday, the Calgary Hitmen on Friday and the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Saturday. The Raiders will return home on Valentine’s Day to face the Broncos.

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW