Raiders defenceman Nolan Allan celebrates his overtime goal. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D’Andrea

Nolan rollin' in OT

Raiders’ Allan scores OT winner over 3rd ranked team in CHL

Mar 5, 2022 | 10:25 PM

At this point of the season, the Prince Albert Raiders are scrapping and clawing for any point they can get. Raiders defenceman Nolan Allan made sure the Raiders got the full two, as he scored the overtime winner to down the CHL’s third-ranked team in the Winnipeg ICE.

The win gives the Raiders 45 points on the season (21-28-2-1), four points back of the Lethbridge Hurricanes who are in seventh place.

“It’s huge. Every game going in towards playoffs, this is our playoff push. Every game matters and we need all the points we can get,” Allan said.

On the game-winner, Benjamin Zloty circled the puck in the top of the slot, but was quickly pressured by Evan Herman. In his haste to make a play, Zloty tried a drop pass near the blueline to teammate Chase Wheatcroft, but Allan anticipated the play, chipped it by Wheatcroft, and roared in on goal to score with a venomous wrist shot.

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“I saw their D-man try to drop the puck there, I just chipped it and I think their guy fell there, so I was all alone. I was just looking at the net for somewhere to shoot, just went with my first decision,” Allan said. “Obviously was just excited. All the guys came and hugged me there, all excited. It’s a big win, so everyone’s happy.”

It’s the Raiders’ second consecutive win after they defeated the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-3 on Friday at Mosaic Place.

If the last two games felt a little more like playoff hockey, that’s by design. Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid said the team held a meeting before Friday’s game, telling his team that not only is it time to play playoff-time hockey, but he laid out what exactly that meant. He mentioned the Raiders’ WHL Championship run in 2019, and the team’s captain Brayden Pachal, Zack Hayes, and Parker Kelly, players who put everything on the line during the Raiders’ grueling run through the postseason.

“Our playoffs started yesterday. We’re trying to make these guys realize what it takes to win in the playoffs. We have one guy with a ring [Ozzy Wiesblatt] and he was a 16-year-old,” Habscheid said. “To win in the playoffs, it’s hard. But the last two games, we played playoff hockey. It’s new for guys, the style you have to play, the mentality you have to play, it’s difficult. We have 16 games left.”

“It’s tough. It’s a different mentality. You see guys sometimes, they get a stick in the mouth and right away, their legs stop working. You can’t do that in the playoffs,” Habscheid added. “You block a shot, you can’t lay there, you have to get up. It’s kind of a crude way of thinking, but if you want to hang banners, if you want to wear rings, that’s the type of mentality you have to have.”

The Raiders now have a 3-2 season record over the ICE, despite the ICE having a 36-9-3-2 record on the year. In fairness, the ICE were missing Connor McClennon, who scored a hat trick against the Raiders in their last meeting at the Art Hauser Centre, a 5-2 ICE win on Jan. 21. The ICE also didn’t have the services of key forwards Conor Geekie and Owen Pederson, and Owen Boucher on defence.

The Raiders came out with a playoff-like intensity, were on every puck, created some chances and got some timely saves from Tikhon Chaika when the ICE were able to find some open ice.

But the ICE scored with 11.3 seconds remaining in the first period to take a 1-0 lead. As the Raiders were asking for a crosschecking penalty, a Raiders defender lost his balance in the neutral zone and allowed the ICE to go on a 2-on-1, finished off in front by Jack Finley.

Then Colonel Cale Sanders kicked in the Raiders’ tying goal, after Tayem Gislason’s centering pass went off Sanders and in to start the third period, 4:35 into the third period.

Then in the 12-minute mark of the third period, Mikey Milne tied the game up for the ICE after the Raiders couldn’t clear their zone. That would eventually force overtime.

With about three minutes remaining, Zachary Benson thought for a second that he’s given the ICE a 3-2 lead, but the goal was disallowed due to a high stick.

That set up Allan’s heroics in overtime.

Game Summary

First Period

1-0, ICE, Jack Finley from Evan Friesen and Mikey Milne, 19:48

Second Period

Third Period

2-1, Raiders, Cale Sanders from Tayem Gislason and Hayden Pakkala, 4:35

2-2, ICE, Mikey Milne from Matthew Savoie and Zachary Benson, 11:03

Overtime

3-2, Raiders, Nolan Allan (unassisted), 1:51

Up next

After two days off, the Raiders will be back in action on Tuesday night and host the Lethbridge Hurricanes at the Art Hauser Centre. Then later in the week, the Raiders will play a home-and-home series against the Saskatoon Blades, with Friday’s game at the Art Hauser Centre, and Saturday’s at SaskTel Centre.

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Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW