Raiders captain Justice Christensen battles with Tigers assistant captain Mathew Ward during the final game of the regular season between the Raiders and Tigers. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

Playoffs Round 2

East and Central Division champs get set to faceoff in Round 2

Apr 12, 2025 | 11:00 AM

For the first time since a second round series against the Regina Pats in the 1996 playoffs, the Prince Albert Raiders came back from a 3-1 deficit in a playoff series to take the win over the Edmonton Oil Kings and move on to Round 2.

Through the first round of the playoffs, the Raiders were shocked in Game 1 at home when the Oil Kings scored 29 seconds in shorthanded to kickstart the series with a 3-1 Edmonton win. The Raiders would turn around with a dominant 6-1 win in Game 2, but Edmonton would win two close 3-2 games in Games 3 and 4.

When the series returned to the Art Hauser Centre for Game 5, that’s where things changed. The Raiders fed off a hometown crowd to a 4-2 win with an empty netter and carried that momentum into a 4-3 win in Edmonton in Game 6. Back at the Art Hauser for Game 7, the Raiders treated the crowd that inspired their comeback to a 5-0 win to move on.

Waiting for the Raiders in round two are the top team in the Eastern Conference and the Central Division champion Medicine Hat Tigers. The Tigers finished their series against the Swift Current Broncos in five games. It started with a pair of wins on home ice 4-0 and 6-3, but the Tigers would drop game three in Swift Current 5-4.

In Game 4, the Tigers went down 2-0 in the first before scoring three straight, but a late goal from the Broncos would send it to overtime. The Tigers would win in overtime 4-3, and in Game 5, the Tigers would score in the second period to break a 2-2 tie, and they’d shut things down the rest of the way to win 3-2 and win the series.

Mind the potholes

Pothole repair underway in Prince Albert

10h ago

Crash near Muskoday bridge sends 35-year-old man to hospital

10h ago

Fresh coat of paint

Anti-Graffiti program returns Wednesday

12h ago

Historically, the Raiders and Tigers have played each other in the playoffs six times, each team coming away with three wins, but it’s been 20 years. In the most recent matchup in 2005, the Raiders won in six games to move on to the Eastern Conference finals.

The other five times the Raiders and Tigers have met in the playoffs were in round one in 1996 (Raiders won 4-1), in round two in 1988 (Tigers won 4-2), round three in 1986 (Tigers won 4-3), round three in 1985 (Raiders won 4-1), and finally in round one in 1984 (Tigers won 4-1).

In the regular season, the Tigers won three out of the four matchups against the Raiders. First was Nov. 29 in Prince Albert where the Tigers won 3-2 in overtime, then the only lopsided game between the two teams on Jan. 8 in Medicine Hat where the Tigers won 7-4, and then back to back matchups where the Raiders won 5-4 in overtime in Medicine Hat on Feb. 8, but the Tigers won the next one Feb. 12 in Prince Albert 3-1.

The Raiders have the top powerplay after the first round, going 8/24 and 33.3 per cent. The Raiders penalty kill went 23/29 in round one, facing more shorthanded opportunity than any other team, but the penalty kill was huge at 79.3 per cent along with two shorthanded goals. They sit ranked sixth in the playoffs on the penalty kill.

The Tigers powerplay sits ranked ninth in the playoffs after the first round, going 5/20 or an even 25 per cent. Their penalty kill however is ranked fourth at 81.3 per cent, or 13/16 with one shorthanded goal.

During the season series, Niall Crocker and Lukas Dragicevic lead the Raiders in scoring with 2G-3A-5P in the four games this season. Rilen Kovacevic has 4G-3A-7P this year against the Tigers, in six games against the Tigers this year with the Moose Jaw Warriors before the trade.

During this round of the playoffs, Dragicevic lead the Raiders with 5G-7A-12P, including two game winning goals for the Raiders. Aiden Oiring also has a game winner in the first round, he sits second with 6G-5A-11P. In third is rookie defenceman Daxon Rudolph with 0G-9A-9P, leading all rookies in points in the playoffs.

For the Tigers, Gavin McKenna lead the series with 2G-5A-7P this year against the Raiders. Liam Ruck had 2G-3A-5P against the Raiders.

In the playoffs, Gavin McKenna leads the playoffs with 2G-14A-16P to extend his point streak to 45 games and 116 points in that time. Oasiz Wiesblatt sits second with 7G-5A-12P, and former Raider Ryder Ritchie sits third with 4G-4A-8P.

Both teams have 14 players with at least a point after the first round.

In goal, Max Hildebrand played all seven games for the Raiders in the first round of the playoffs. In those seven games, Hildebrand posted a 0.941 save percentage, the third best in the playoffs and both ahead of him only played five games. In the regular season, backup goaltender Dimitri Fortin was in net for the two Raider losses posting a 0.886.

As for the Oil Kings goaltenders, Harrison Meneghin got through the first round with a 0.886 save percentage. Jordan Switzer was called in for 30 minutes of game three, the one the Tigers lost, and Switzer went 14/15 before giving up the overtime winner. During the regular season, Switzer’s save percentage was 0.901.

As for mutual connections on the teams, you can’t ignore the blockbuster trade from the start of the year. The Raiders gave Ryder Ritchie to the Tigers in exchange for Tomas Mrsic and 3rd round picks in 2025 and 2028. Ritchie put up eight points in round one, and Mrsic put up three points but was hurt in game five and has not played since.

The Raiders and Tigers open up their second round series against each other on Saturday, April 12 in Medicine Hat with game two the following Sunday. Games three and four in Prince Albert are Wednesday, April 16 and Thursday, April 17.

—

nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com