Niall Crocker scored while falling in the last matchup against the Swift Current Broncos. The Raiders head to Swift Current on Saturday after Friday's matchup with Edmonton. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

New jersey debut

Weekend preview: Raiders look to secure playoff spot against Edmonton and Swift Current

Feb 28, 2025 | 1:01 PM

After a tough overtime loss earlier this week, the Prince Albert Raiders still picked up a point and now are just one win away from securing a playoff spot. They’ll have a chance to secure that spot on Friday at home against the Edmonton Oil Kings and on Saturday in Swift Current against the Broncos.

The Raiders are on a three-game point streak right now with two wins over both the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-1 and the Regina Pats 3-0, and then in their most recent action P.A. lost a heartbreaker in overtime 2-1 to the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Friday vs. Edmonton

The Raiders will start their weekend at home against the Edmonton Oil Kings. The Oil Kings lost their last game 4-1 in their last game in Brandon on Wednesday but started their Eastern road swing with a win 4-0 in Moose Jaw. Before that, the Oil Kings traded road wins with the Medicine Hat Tigers.

In the season series, the Raiders and the Oil Kings have met three of their five times so far this year. The Raiders won the first in November 4-1 at home, then again on the road 5-2 in December, but the Oil Kings got the last win in Edmonton on January 10, 5-4.

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It’s another potential playoff matchup for the Raiders as they still sit in the top spot in the East Division at 33-19-4-1 (W-L-OTL-SOL) and as a result second in the Eastern Conference. The Oil Kings sit sixth in the Conference and fourth in the Central Division with a record of 32-22-2-2, just one point separating them from Saskatoon behind them in seventh and Brandon ahead of them in fifth.

When it comes to goal scoring, the Raiders are sitting at 218 goals for this year, which averages out to a little over 3.8 goals per game, and with 194 goals against the Raiders are sitting at a +24.

The Oil Kings are averaging a little under 3.7 goals per game this season with 212 to their name, but they’ve allowed less goals than the Raiders at 178. That works out to a +34 differential.

In the special teams battle, the Raiders powerplay went 0/5 on Wednesday but still managed to keep their spot as the second-ranked powerplay in the league at 28.3 per cent. On the penalty kill, the Raiders haven’t given up a powerplay goal in their last eight penalty kills, but they still sit third last in the league at 73.7 per cent.

The Oil Kings powerplay is sitting 13th in the league at 22.9 per cent, tied with Wenatchee. The Oil Kings penalty kill is tied for the top in the league at 81.7 per cent, and they’ve managed a league-leading 14 shorthanded goals. Lukas Dragicevic is third on the Raiders and second in the league with 14G-49A-63P on the year.

For the Raiders, Tomas Mrsic continues to lead the team in scoring with 32G-48A-80P on the year, good for ninth in the league. Aiden Oiring sits second on the Raiders and 17th in the league at 22G-50A-72P.

With only one goal scored in their last game, the Raiders have no one currently on a point streak.

The Oil Kings are led by Gracyn Sawchyn who’s only appeared in 45 games so far this year, he’s managed 27G-41A-68P to sit tied for 24th in league scoring. Gavin Hodnett sits second on the team with 24G-37A-61P, and Adam Jecho sits third with 23G-24A-47P, tied with Roan Woodward with 19G-28A-47P.

The Oil Kings also only had one goal during their last action on Wednesday, which was scored by Sawchyn who put up 4G-5A in his last six games.

In goal, Max Hildebrand’s save percentage stayed at 0.917 with a record of 28-13-4-0, giving him the third most wins in the league and the most wins in the Eastern Conference. Backing up is Dimitri Fortin with a save percentage of 0.887 and a record of 6-6-0-1 on the year, most recently helping the Raiders with a win over Calgary where Fortin went 0.949 on the night.

Alex Worthington has had the majority of the starts this season for the Oil Kings. He’s got a record of 20-16-0-2 on the year and a 0.903 save percentage. Ethan Simcoe has been splitting the starts since the end of December, he had a shutout in Moose Jaw on Tuesday to improve to 11-3-1-0 on the year with a 0.923 save percentage through only 16 games, and therefore doesn’t count in the save percentage rankings in the league yet.

Saturday @ Swift Current

On to Saturday’s matchup against the Swift Current Broncos, the final of eight meetings this year. In the first two games, the Broncos picked up wins 5-4 in Swift Current and 9-4 Prince Albert, but the Raiders have gone on to win the five games since 6-5, 2-1, 7-5, 7-1, and most recently on February 14 the Raiders won 6-1 at home.

The Broncos played earlier this week where they lost 3-0 in Calgary, but before that they managed a 4-2 win over Brandon at home. Before that, the Broncos lost two games in a row to Regina and Calgary again. They’ll play the Moose Jaw Warriors at home on Friday night.

In the standings, the Broncos sit comfortably in the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and fourth in the East Division. With a record of 29-25-1-1 this season, the Broncos are a full 11 points ahead of Red Deer in ninth, and seven points behind Saskatoon in seventh.

The Broncos have scored a total of 202 goals on the season, good for an average of 3.6 goals per game. With 213 goals against, they are the only team in the Eastern Conference with a negative goal differential at -11.

On special teams, the Broncos powerplay sits just below the halfway mark of the league at 23.7 per cent. On the penalty kill, they are 14th in the league at 75.3 per cent.

The leading scorer for the Broncos is Luke Mistelbacher who also sits tied for 11th in league scoring with 36G-42A-78P. In second is Clarke Caswell with 20G-51A-71P, and finally Carlin Dezainde rounds out the top three with 30G-33A-63P.

In goal, the starts have been split about 2-1 through the season with Reid Dyck getting the majority of them. Dyck’s record sits at 18-19-1-0 on the year, and has a save percentage at 0.889 going into the weekend. Joey Rocha on the other hand sits at 0.882 and 11-6-0-1 on the year.

The Raiders drop the puck against the Edmonton Oil Kings on home ice Friday at 7:00pm, and then head on the road to take on the Swift Current Broncos at 7:00pm on Saturday. Both games will be live on 900 CKBI and Brandt Raider Radio starting with the pregame show at 6:30pm.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com