Goaltender Max Hildebrand peers through the screen to see a shot against the Moose Jaw Warriors. (Submitted Photo/Moose Jaw Warriors/Nick Pettigrew)

By Rob Mahon

Warriors Outlast Raiders

Raiders fall to Warriors after slow start

Feb 12, 2022 | 8:43 AM

For much of the last two periods of their game against the Moose Jaw Warriors, the Prince Albert Raiders had the better of play in terms of shots on goal and actual goals. Unfortunately, a short stretch at the very start of the game proved too much to overcome.

Max Wanner, Jagger Firkus, and Daemon Hunt each had a goal and an assist and Carl Tetachuk made 23 saves as the Warriors took a 3-1 win. Reece Vitelli got the lone Raiders goal while Max Hildebrand made 20 saves in his first WHL start.

The Warriors wasted no time getting their offence rolling just one game after they’d been stymied by the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Carson Latimer took a high-sticking penalty just 29 seconds in and drew blood for a double minor, and it was just moments into the first of the two penalties that Moose Jaw struck. Hunt’s initial shot was blocked but the rebound bounced to Wanner who fired it past Hildebrand for the opening goal.

Before the second of the two minors was over (before the first would’ve expired normally) Moose Jaw had the two-goal lead and all the breathing room it turned out they needed. Firkus worked a give-and-go down the left wing as he entered the Raiders zone, then drove the net from the bottom of the circle. He flipped the puck on goal and snuck it short side through Hildebrand for the 2-0 lead.

A power play opportunity for the Raiders quickly turned sour as they took a penalty of their own to negate the power play and put the game at four-on-four. During the four-on-four, Firkus waited for Hunt to join the rush, then feathered a pass over to him that Hunt steered perfectly on his backhand to the top corner for a 3-0 lead.

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The Raiders had chances from there. In the first period, Vitelli had two partial breakaways, only for Tetachuk to foil him on both. In the second, Niall Crocker (who got into a spirited fate with Nathan Pilling in the first) found the iron off a chance in front. In the third, on a seemingly less dangerous chance, Vitelli broke into the zone and fired the puck from just inside the Warrior line, beating Tetachuk high-glove to get the Raiders back within two.

With 2:20 to go, the Raiders were able to get Hildebrand out of the net for the extra attacker, but generated little in the way of chances. In fact, Moose Jaw had perhaps the best chances, but Landon Kosior stopped them twice. Nonetheless, all the Warriors had to do was hang on and they did for the 3-1 win.

Next game comes quickly for the Raiders as they travel home to face Lethbridge on Saturday. Puck drop is 7:00 p.m. at the Art Hauser. Catch that game on 900 CKBI.

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rob.mahon@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @RobMahonPxP