The Saskatoon Blades celebrate scoring one of their six goals against the Raiders on March 10, 2023. (Mark Peterson Media)

By Logan Lehmann

Skid reaches four

Roulette nets hat trick as Blades win big

Mar 10, 2023 | 10:29 PM

PRINCE ALBERT, SK – Connor Roulette made the caps fly on Friday, netting a hat trick to help the Saskatoon Blades dominate the Prince Albert Raiders 6-2 at the Art Hauser Centre.

The loss is the fourth in a row for PA as their playoff hopes quickly begin to fade.

The Raiders surrendered three goals in the second period on just five shots. Prince Albert head coach Jeff Truitt shared his thoughts on his teams play in the middle frame.

“We lost battles, we weren’t strong on pucks, we didn’t make plays either,” he explained. “We might have made one play but it didn’t seem like it. We had to break the puck out two or three times out of our own zone to get the puck going north. We didn’t have very many quality opportunities, it was just one of those real ‘blah’ games that we didn’t get anything done both defensively, puck movement wise, or offensively. We didn’t get a ton done.”

Along with Roulette, Jake Chiasson also had three points registering a goal and two assists while Charlie Wright had one of each. Misha Volotovskii also scored for the Blades while Jordan Keller, Egor Sidorov, Aidan De La Gorgendiere, Tanner Molendyk, and Justin Lies each netted an assist.

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Sloan Stanick and Ryder Ritchie were the goal scorers for PA while Hayden Pakkala and Landon Kosior were the assist getters.

Max Hildebrand and Tikhon Chaika combined for 18 saves in the game where the Raiders fall to 25-33-3-0 on the campaign.

Austin Elliott made 24 stops for the Blades as they improve to 44-13-4-1 on the year.

COMPLETE BOX SCORE

It didn’t take long to get the wild first period started as Roulette got the Blades on the board off a turnover just 90 seconds in.

Luckily, the deficit didn’t last long. A Pakkala point shot was deflected in by Stanick three minutes later to pull the Raiders back to even.

Prince Albert kept the offense rolling as midway through the frame, Ritchie got another one on the powerplay to give the Raiders the 2-1 lead.

However later in the period, Saskatoon went back to back as Roulette got his second of the night while Chaisson scored far side on Hildebrand as the Blades carried a 3-2 going into the second.

Saskatoon continued to build on their lead by adding another three goals in the second period. Wright scored a tap in on the doorstep, Roulette completed the hat trick, and Volotovskii scored in his return to the lineup as the Blades tripled the Raiders 6-2 going into the third.

The score remained the same throughout the final twenty minutes as the Blades took it in statement fashion.

The Raiders now seek revenge on their rivals as they rematch on Sunday afternoon at 4pm in Saskatoon.

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logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @lloganlehmann