Raiders defenceman Eric Johnston leans into Wheat Kings defenceman Quinn Mantei in the first period of Friday's game. (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D’Andrea

Raiders Hockey

Raiders playoff push gets more complicated after defeat to Wheat Kings

Apr 1, 2022 | 10:17 PM

The Prince Albert Raiders fell 4-2 to the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday, the Raiders are far from elimination. But making the playoffs certainly will be more difficult as they fell to 10th place and remain four points out of eighth place.

The Raiders dominated patches of the game, outshooting the Wheat Kings 37-19 in the game and 19-4 in the second period, but Ethan Kruger proved tough to beat. It was 1-1 heading into the third period, before Brett Hyland’s tip goal made it 2-1. Nate Danielson scored an empty-net goal to make it 3-1, before Raiders forward Sloan Stanick scored his second goal to give the home side life. Chad Nychuk promptly took that life away, scoring the game-sealing empty-net goal with 27.4 seconds left.

“I thought we had a lot of shots on net. I thought we were a little sleepy in the first and the start of the second, but I thought we got into it and I thought we dominated,” Stanick said. “Those are the inches we talk about each and every day. It’s just sad and hard on the guys, for sure.”

Especially with forward Ozzy Wiesblatt being rarely available late in the season due to injury, Raiders head coach Marc Habscheid knows the margins of error are quite low for his side. He felt the attention to detail could have been better, especially in front of their own net to help out goaltender Tikhon Chaika.

“We talked about these last 18 games about inches. I don’t think we got those inches tonight. The winning goal, didn’t block the shot. There’s a double screen in front and we didn’t take a stick,” Habscheid said. “Those are inches we have to have. We don’t have much margin for error, we understand that, but we have to win games 2-1, 3-2. Those inches are important and we didn’t get them tonight.”

International Spotlight

P.A.'s Howe one of 4 Sask. born players named to Canada's World Junior roster

14h ago

National

Ottawa to remove 30% investment cap for Canadian pension funds

18h ago

Budget woes

Golf and curling centre faces grim season without financial boost

21h ago

With the Wheat Kings win, they clinch a playoff spot, the sixth team in the WHL Eastern Conference to do so. That means there are now five teams fighting for the final two playoff spots in the WHL Eastern Conference.

Heading into Friday, the Raiders were in ninth place with 55 points, chasing the seventh place Swift Current Broncos (59 points, Raiders still have two games in hand), the eighth-place Lethbridge Hurricanes (58 points, Raiders played one more game), and are trying to hold off the Calgary Hitmen (54 points) and the Regina Pats (53 points). Here is the out-of-town scoreboard for all of the pertinent games to the Raiders’ playoff hopes.

Lethbridge Hurricanes 6 Medicine Hat Tigers 3. The last-place Tigers couldn’t do the Raiders a huge favour, as the Hurricanes double up the Tigers to go back into seventh place.

Calgary Hitmen 4 Swift Current Broncos 2. The Hitmen leapfrog the Raiders with this win, but it keeps the Broncos close and still within range.

Winnipeg ICE 7 Regina Pats 0. The Pats remain two points behind the Raiders with this rout. The Pats will take on the Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre on Saturday.

Here are the standings after all of Friday’s games.

7. Lethbridge Hurricanes, 60 points, 62 games played

8. Swift Current Broncos, 59 points, 65 games played

9. Calgary Hitmen, 56 points, 63 games played

10. Prince Albert Raiders, 55 points, 63 games played

11. Regina Pats, 53 points, 61 games played

Scoring Summary

First Period

1-0, Wheat Kings, Nolan Ritchie from Vincent Iorio and Riley Ginnell, 7:16

Second Period

1-1, Raiders, Sloan Stanick from Evan Herman and Landon Kosior (power play), 14:43

Third Period

2-1, Wheat Kings, Brett Hyland from Charlie Elick, 4:17

3-1, Wheat Kings, Nate Danielson (empty net), 18:12

3-2, Raiders, Sloan Stanick from Landon Kosior and Nolan Allan, 19:03

4-2, Chad Nychuk (unassisted, empty net), 19:32

Up next

The Raiders will take on the Regina Pats, Saturday at the Art Hauser Centre. The Raiders have struggled against the Pats this year with a 1-4-1 record, but the Pats are coming off a 7-0 defeat against the Winnipeg ICE, and have one win in their last six games.

–

Jeff.dandrea@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW