Daxon Rudolph skates away from Wheat Kings forward Carter Klippenstien after a puck battle earlier this year. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders.)

By Nick Nielsen

Wheat Kings lead Season Series

Round four between Raiders and Wheat Kings set for Saturday night

Dec 14, 2024 | 6:30 AM

The Prince Albert Raiders are in a tight race in the Eastern Conference right now, sitting in ninth place and on the outside looking in for a playoff spot as the Christmas break looms. With games in hand over everyone ahead of them except for one team, and a key 6-3 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors in their last action, the Raiders are poised to start climbing the standings as they welcome the Brandon Wheat Kings for the last home game before Christmas on Saturday night.

With 26 games played this season, both the Raiders and the Wheat Kings have played at least two less games than the rest of the league. The Raiders have 29 points, one point behind Edmonton in eighth, two points behind Red Deer in seventh, and Brandon sits sixth with on 32 points. Even though the Raiders are only ninth in the Eastern Conference, they are only five points away from third.

The Raiders record sits at 13-10-3-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) on the season after Tuesday’s win over Moose Jaw. Before that, the Raiders have a 7-3 loss to Brandon they are looking to avenge, a 4-3 win over Calgary, and a 3-2 loss to Red Deer that snapped an eight game point streak.

As for Brandon, they have not played since last Saturday’s win over the Raiders. They enter the game on a three game winning streak with a pair of 5-1 wins over Red Deer at home and Edmonton on the road, that boost their record to 14-8-3-1 on the year.

The Wheat Kings will be without three of their big guns in the game thanks to World Junior’s camps, with goaltender Carson Bjarnason getting set to play for Team Canada, Dominik Petr with Team Czechia, and Adam Belusko heading to Team Slovakia. The one change to the roster for the Raiders will likely see the debut of Evan Smith after he was acquired via a trade from the Red Deer Rebels.

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The Raiders goal differential has only been getting better and better this year, now down by –5. The Raiders have 96 goals for this season compared to 101 against, which has brought the Raiders goals per game average up to 3.7.

The Wheat Kings have given up only 79 goals this season, the second last in the league only behind Everett. They’ve also scored 96 goals for, giving them the same 3.7 goals per game average and a differential at +17.

After dropping out of the top spot in the league for one game, the Raiders powerplay is back at the top of the league with a 29.4 per cent efficiency rate, a full 1.2 per cent ahead of the rest of the league. As for the penalty kill, it’s sitting 17th in the league at 73.8 per cent.

The Wheat Kings powerplay has not been their strong suit, sitting tied with Regina for 19th in the league at 17.9 per cent. Their penalty kill has been much more effective, sitting sixth in the league at 81.4 per cent and giving up a league best 16 powerplay goals against.

The Raiders scoring is lead by Aiden Oiring 12G-25A-37P on the season, followed by the league’s powerplay goal lead Tomas Mrsic with 17G-17A-34P. Lukas Dragicevic sits third with 3G-28A-30P on the year, including two goals in his last three games.

Brayden Dube is the lone Raider with points in the last two games, coming in on a two game streak with 2G-0A. While not a true streak, Dragicevic posted 1G-2A in his last game to give him 2G-4A in his last four games. The line of Harrison Lodewyk, Krzyzstof Macias, and Niall Crocker combined for seven points on Tuesday lead by Crocker’s four assists.

Marcus Nguyen leads the Wheat Kings scoring with 13G-13A-26P on the year, tied with the absent Dominik Petr. That brings Matteo Michels into second with 11G-12A-23P, and Jaxon Jacobson to third with 5G-17A-22P.

Matteo Michels comes into the game with goals in his last three games at 4G-1A. Wheat Kings captain Quinn Mantei is coming into the action with 1G-3A in his last two games, and fellow defenceman Luke Shipley has four assists across his last three games. Team Czechia’s Petr would also be coming into the game as a player to watch with 2G-4A in his last three games.

In goal, Max Hildebrand stopped 27 of 30 shots faced in his return to action after missing four games, his longest streak this season. He comes in with a 0.906 save percentage which ties him for eighth in the league. Dimitri Fortin was between the pipes when the Raiders played the Wheat Kings last weekend, which dropped his season save percentage to 0.874. In his first three games as a Raider, Fortin posted a 0.918.

As for the Wheat Kings, it’s unclear who will backup for the Wheat Kings with the league’s best save percentage Carson Bjarnason gone to play with Team Canada. They’ll still have one of the best goaltenders in the league in net with Ethan Eskit, who has a 0.907 save percentage through 11 starts with a 6-2-1-1 record on the year.

The Raiders drop the puck against the Wheat Kings for the fourth time of the season Saturday night at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drops at 7 p.m., with the pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m. on 900 CKBI.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com